Me and My Cat
by ice queen
Summary: Chapter 16: Speak Gajeel-ese.  Gajeel and Levy run into Lily and Charle on the island after beating Grimoire Heart. Levy doesn't speak Gajeel-ese.
1. Have a Drink On Me

Enjoy some short "Me and My Cat" shots starring Gajeel and Pantherlily, everyone! Oh, and I don't own Fairy Tail, nor am I making any money off of this.

* * *

**Have a Drink on Me**

**By: Ice Queen  
**

**Characters: Pantherlily, Gajeel, Cana, Jet & Droy, Levy**

The clinging, over-protective man that claimed him as his cat was nothing like what he expected. Pantherlily stayed silent as the metal dragon got in someone else's face as they tried to get close to the Exsheed. "Don't get so close to my cat!"

"He's like Happy, right?" the curvy woman sitting on the table next to theirs said. "One of those flying, talking cats, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Nothing," she said. "What's your name?" she asked Pantherlily, ignoring how Gajeel was scowling at her, waiting to see if she made a wrong move.

"Pantherlily," Lily told her, staring her straight in the eye. She grinned at him.

"I'm Cana. Want a drink?"

"Sure," he said, taking the mug that she filled for him. It was as big as he was, practically. That was something he would have to get used to. The reaction seemed to calm Gajeel down, thankfully. It wasn't like being on Edolas. On Edolas he had been the big one. He had treated Coco like a daughter, making sure she wasn't picked on. Now the tables had been completely turned.

"So how'd you get stuck with a guy like Gajeel?" Cana asked him. Lily could almost feel Gajeel go still.

"I forced him to bring me into the guild," he told her. "Like he said he would when we fought."

"You fought, huh?"

"So?" Gajeel asked defensively. "He was a lot bigger at the time."

"That sounds like a story to drink to," Cana said, offering Gajeel a mug. "I always like a story to go with my date," she added, patting the gigantic beer keg she was hugging. There was a crowd around them, which Lily could tell made Gajeel feel uncomfortable. There was a story there, he was sure. The other male had made a comment about having a lot in common with him on Edolas. He had been disgusted with his homeland, and Gajeel had insinuated that the same happened to him. But had he fit in with his last home?

Did he fit in with this one? Somehow Lily thought he did.

"He's tough," Gajeel said, taking a gulp of his beer. "We couldn't finish it, since some shit happened, but he's tough."

"He'll have to be to survive you!" one of the guys in the crowd called out.

"Gajeel and Natsu took out Luxus, right?" the guy standing next to him said. He had hair like a fish tail, Lily noticed. That was weird. Then again, Gajeel had studs all over his face, so who knew what fashion was popular on this Earthland?

"They did," a little blue haired girl said. She was the first female in the building that seemed to have normal sized boobs. "I knew they would."

"Who's she?" Lily asked Gajeel quietly.

"Levy," Gajeel replied, equally quietly. It was one good thing about having a dragon slayer for a partner, he could hear things that the people around them couldn't.

"There a story behind that, too?" Lily asked, noticing how proud the girl seemed to be about knowing Gajeel and Natsu would beat some other guy. It took two dragon slayers to do it? He definitely wanted to hear about this Luxus guy.

Gajeel grunted, still looking at the blue haired girl. "She's amazing," he muttered. "At what she does," he tacked on quickly.

"Mmhmm."

"Oye, you two are chatting without us, aren't you?" Cana demanded. "That super hearing trick of yours. Natsu and Happy never do that!"

"Natsu and Happy don't have volume control," Gajeel muttered.

"Ain't that the truth!" Cana hooted, taking another massive gulp of her drink. Lily finished off his mug, holding it out to her to refill. "Where you puttin' all that?" she asked him, peering down at his tiny body.

"Where are you?" he asked in return.

She laughed in appreciation. "I like you," she declared. "You can be my drinking buddy, any time!"

"So can anyone in the guild," one of the guys called dryly.

"But I noticed I never run out of drinking buddies!" Cana replied. The entire room laughed and Lily sat down on the table next to Gajeel to drink his beer.

It was surprisingly easy to get drunk in this much smaller form, Lily realized a bit hazily a few moments later. He looked at Gajeel-both of them- and frowned. "The-the relashinnship ba'tween Exsheed and humansh is strange here," he got out seriously.

"Yeah?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah. They ushed to-to worship Exsheed on Edolas. Thought we were godsh. It got... lonely." Then he stopped, frowning drunkenly. "But a exsheed ish not a pet, neither, unner-unnershtand? Even if I'm-I'm tiny, gotsh it?"

"Uh huh," Gajeel said.

"Even if shome of dem are really... really shtupid," he went on. "Really, really shtupid," he added with a snort. "Humansh aren't that different."

"Yeah," Gajeel agreed. Then promptly dragged the poor Exsheed into a one-armed hug and let out a snore, his face falling to the table in front of him. For a moment Lily just stayed there, being hugged by the massively muscular male and thinking, a bit drunkenly, that maybe things hadn't changed that much after all.

Coco had done stuff like that, too.

He waited for the rest of the guild to say something, to make fun of them, but no one said a word. There was a slight smile on Cana's face as she gulped down another keg, but that was the only amusement he really noticed.

This was the guild that the prince had chosen for a reason, it seemed.


	2. Two for One!

Now for a two for one since the first one was so short. Thank you for all the positive feedback, guys! I'm really enjoying this little jaunt, I'm glad to hear you are, too! Oh, and I've raised the rating to T because Gajeel has a dirty mouth.

About Full Moon Sake: I never saw Gajeel's mission for teaching kids in the manga, and maybe I just missed it, or maybe it's just fan lore. Either way I've gone with it, since it amuses me. I hope you guys don't mind, since it'll be a running joke in this series of shorts.

* * *

**What Needs to be Said**

**Characters: Gajeel, Pantherlily, Makarov**

"You should probably tell him," the guild master said. Lily looked up from where he had been eating breakfast next to Gajeel at a small table. The diner was empty. It was odd to see it so empty, and he had only been there for a day or two. He had wondered why until the small man approached them with his hands behind his back.

"Yeah, but-" Gajeel started out with a frown.

"Either he finds out from you, or he finds out only half of the story," Makarov said. "You could do some serious damage by not telling him."

"I'll... think about it," Gajeel muttered, looking away.

"Don't take too long," Makarov said as he walked away. Lily looked up at Gajeel then turned back to his fish, eating silently.

Gajeel didn't eat for a long moment before he muttered a dark curse. "Sometimes," he said slowly, not looking at the Exsheed, "I do a few missions that nobody needs to know about."

Lily said nothing, but he wasn't surprised, either.

"So don't go jumping to strange conclusions, got it?"

"Yeah," Lily said. "I had a few of those in my time, too."

"Okay, then," Gajeel said quietly. But that was all that needed to be said.

* * *

**Full Moon Sake**

**Characters: Gajeel, Pantherlily**

He wanted to talk to the one called Levy. Lily decided that he would in the middle of the night while sitting out in front of their tiny apartment, sipping sake and staring at the full moon. Gajeel had a slightly strained look on his face, and had all day. It was because they had just gotten back from another solitary mission. At least, it would have been solitary, had Lily not been there. He really doubted that Gajeel would ever ask someone else to join him.

"Really," he said after a long moment. "You're better at teaching than I thought you would be."

"What's that mean?"

"Of course they were so terrified of you that I'm not surprised that one boy pissed himself," Lily went on, ignoring the dark look on his partner's face.

"Wasn't nearly as bad this time," Gajeel muttered. "Last time I had to hunt them each down personally and drag them to the classroom. This time they all wanted to see you."

"Mm," Lily agreed. "Why?"

"Because you're awesome, of course. Why else?"

A little smile pulled at Lily's lips at the compliment. He wondered if the big man had any idea how stunning it was to hear him drop compliments. But he did it somewhat regularly. Whatever Gajeel thought tended to come out of his mouth. He doubted that had always been the case, though. "I meant, why take a mission like that?"

"No reason," Gajeel muttered, looking away. It was a blustering tone that said he was lying, and feeling sheepish at the same time.

"Really."

"Yeah, really," Gajeel said, still not looking at the Exsheed. "I needed to..." He frowned, a thoughtful look on his face as if he was trying to think of how to put it. "Repent."

"Repent what?"

"Some shit I did," Gajeel muttered a bit guiltily. "Before I was in Fairy Tail I was in another one, called Phantom. And... the guild master, Jose, he didn't like Fairy Tail. So I was sent to start some shit."

"And you did it."

"Of course I did it. That's what you do in a guild. The guild master tells you to do something, and you do it. They're stronger than you are."

Lily poured himself another cup of sake, letting the night breeze cool him as he contemplated his new partner's thinking. It made sense. It was like working for a king. Lily, himself, had done some dirty things to others because he was told to. "It have something to do with Levy?" he asked. The shudder that ran through Gajeel's body was only accented by the curse the metal dragon slayer let loose.

"How'd you guess?" he asked.

"Just wondered," Lily said calmly. "What you do to her?"

"I-" Gajeel cursed again, his expression dark. "You got to understand, I was different back then. Sort of. I hated my guild, they were scum and all the powerless ones kissed up to the stronger ones. And next to Jose, I was the strongest, practically. The best. And Fairy Tail was trying to take that title away from me."

"So you attacked her."

"First I destroyed the guild building," Gajeel said, his voice calming. "A few metal spikes did the job. Then I picked out three of the weakest in the group and pinned them to a tree. I painted our guild symbol on the girl's stomach. It got what we wanted."

"And the girl was Levy."

"Yeah. She was a weakling, one followed around by two other weaklings."

"Hmm."

"What's that mean?"

"Did you feel guilty at the time?"

"No," Gajeel said honestly. "I didn't feel guilty at all. Hell, I took out both my own guild and theirs when they brought the fight to us. I enjoyed it," he went on, looking at Lily. "I loved it." He was telling the truth, Lily decided. Or at least what he believed was the truth. "I was finally going to prove that I was the strongest dragon."

"Dragon?"

"I knew about Salamander. It pissed me off that people whispered about him all over the place, but they never mentioned me. I was the true dragon slayer, dammit." He scowled up at the moon and downed another cup of sake, holding it out for Lily to refill. "And hell... maybe a part of me wanted to meet him. To see what other kind of bastard a dragon would raise."

Lily stayed silent, handing over the now filled cup and waiting for Gajeel to go on. The silence stretched out for a long moment. "They weren't my nakama," Gajeel said suddenly. "They weren't my family, either. They were annoying sycophants that just disgusted me when I even bothered to think about them, I guess. But hell, I never imagined a guild could be like... these noisy as hell idiots, either. You sort of fall into their pace the longer you spend with them. I do shit I'd never have imagined doing in Phantom on a daily basis now."

"And Levy?" Lily asked.

"I won't hurt her again," Gajeel said. "She's not strong... but she's... awesome," he muttered. He was flushed, but whether it was from the alcohol or from talking about the female, Lily couldn't quite tell. "She's a hell of a lot smarter than I'll ever be." A crooked smile pulled at his lips. "She found the right guild right off the bat."

"What's so different?" Lily asked.

"Love, acceptance," Gajeel said softly. "It's the weirdest shit in the world, you know?" he added, looking over at Lily. "But it's practically overflowing in Fairy Tail. Damn I must be drunk if I'm talking like this." He gave Lily a crooked grin. "That's why I wanted a cat so bad."

"For love and acceptance?"

"No, cuz those other dragon slayers had one and I didn't," Gajeel said. "That stuff was just a side benefit."

Lily said nothing, merely saluted the moon, soaking up the energy that flowed through this other planet. Love, huh? He didn't know much about that sort of thing, either. Being Gajeel's cat seemed to come with a lot more responsibility than being Natsu or Wendy's did. Happy just had to be an idiot with a taste for fish and a few well placed comments, and Charle only had to mother a little girl. He was the one stuck with the guy with complexes the size of a mountain. "So you teach little kids to make up for what you did in Phantom?"

"Pathetic, isn't it?"

"Nah," Lily said. "It's a start." He would, he decided, find this Levy girl and talk to her tomorrow. The last thing he wanted to do was encourage Gajeel down a path that would break the heart he was just learning that he had.


	3. Lily, Levy, and a Library

The third chapter in the drabbles. Lily decided he wanted to talk to Levy earlier, and here we have their little talk. I'm soooo happy you guys seem to be enjoying this, seriously, because the pair of them got stuck in my head and since no one had written what all I wanted to read (is lazy enough to let others do the work if they want to) I had to do it myself. Much love for those of you who have been supporting me from the start, both through comments and adding me to your fave or alert lists! I hope this one makes you as happy as the last two.

Surprisingly, Lily doesn't drink any alcohol in this chapter!

Seriously, though, I have no idea why I portray the poor cat as a lush.

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**Lily, Levy, and a Library**

**Characters: Pantherlily, Levy, Gajeel, brief mention of Natsu**

They sat next to one another. It wasn't just Gajeel choosing to sit next to Natsu, or Natsu choosing to sit next to Gajeel, it was when either of them was sitting down the other was automatically drawn to him. It was mostly to fight, Lily noticed, but there was something else there. There was a familiarity between the two dragons that the others just didn't have.

While they were fighting like little kids (Gajeel had stepped on Natsu's foot yet again) Lily took the opportunity to head for the guild library, where Levy was supposed to be. He was going to get yelled at later, he was sure. Gajeel probably figured he could bomb from above when the fight got really out of hand. As if Gajeel needed help in the middle of a bar fight, Lily thought dryly. He forgot about that as soon as he saw the little blue haired girl hunched over a book intently. He dropped to the ground, walking over to her table and pulling himself up next to her to read over her shoulder.

After a moment he stopped, shuddering slightly. "You actually like that stuff?" he asked her. Levy nearly jumped out of her skin, dropping her book and looking around a bit wildly. When she saw him she let out a sigh of relief, grinning brilliantly at him.

"You scared the heck out of me!" she exclaimed.

"Probably because you were reading a horror novel," he said logically. The blush that crossed her cheeks almost made him laugh.

"So I like horror novels," she said a bit defensively. "They're entertaining. But, um, you're Gajeel's partner, right? Could you not tell him?"

"That you like horror novels?" Lily asked. "Why not? It's not like you're reading some cheesy romance book."

"He'd probably decide to scare me, or something," she said dryly. "And he'd probably pull it off."

"That... is entirely likely," Lily admitted. "It sounds like you've thought about it before."

"If anyone would do it, it would be him... or Natsu, or Gray, or-" she trailed off, obviously coming up with a lot more names than she had planned. "But they couldn't manage it as well as Gajeel would."

"So you're scared of him?"

She went silent, frowning slightly as she thought over the question. "I... I'm better," she said after a moment. "When he first joined the guild I would hide every time he was in the same room," she told him, smiling a bit crookedly. "But I was really okay with him joining. I mean... he's more useful than I am in a lot of ways. We can't turn down an S class mage, not when he's changed his ways, right?"

Lily nodded, seeing the problem. "Kind of hard to protest a guy like that, isn't it?"

"No, I could have said he couldn't join," Levy said, looking surprised that he thought so. "In fact, the first person that the master asked was me," she added.

The knowledge was a bit stunning. Lily couldn't help but stare at her in shock for a long moment before he managed to gain control of his mouth again. "Why?"

"Because the Master loves me like his own child, he loves all of the guild members like family," she said honestly. "And he didn't want me to be uncomfortable in my own home. But he promised me I would be safe. And I have been. Gajeel isn't nearly as mean now that he's one of us." She smiled again, letting out a giggle. "He even sang a song, once. And he saved me from Luxus."

"When he and Natsu beat the guy, right?"

"Oh, no. It was before that. Jet and Droy didn't like that he was a part of our guild. I even told them that we should just get over it, but they didn't agree. So they started bullying him. Then Luxus showed up and he attacked Gajeel. Then he turned on me, and Gajeel blocked it. It made it easier to accept him as nakama," she said. "He's done a few things like that, actually. When Natsu and he were fighting Luxus he turned himself into a lightening rod to stop Natsu from getting killed. I was there," she added, smiling slightly. "I really didn't see that one coming, either."

"You forgive easily," Lily said. Inwardly he was thinking how big an impact beating this Luxus guy seemed to have had on the guild. It made sense that something that they considered massive would make Gajeel a more acceptable nakama. And her mention of how Gajeel fought added some insight for the Exsheed. Lightening, he thought silently. That was interesting. He wondered if she even knew about the fights on Edolas, and how Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy had teamed up to take out the King in much the same manner. Gajeel probably wouldn't want her to know...

"Now you're calling me stupid, too, aren't you?" Levy accused him.

"Not particularly." He looked at her book. "I won't tell, but you'll probably be caught sooner or later."

"Gajeel can read?"

Lily coughed and burst into laughter, completely taken off guard by that innocent question.

"Oye!" Gajeel said from the door, a scowl on his face, and what appeared to be a budding black eye. "Is this where you went?"

Lily stopped laughing, coughing to cover up the last of his amusement. "I wanted to look around," he said.

"Oh," Gajeel said, glancing at Levy for a second, who looked back, smiling slightly as she pushed her book casually out of Gajeel's line of sight. Lily almost laughed at that. "Let's go. We've got a new mission."

"Good luck teaching the kids!" Levy called as they left. Lily didn't say a word about the streak of red that crept up the back of Gajeel's neck.

"Did you tell her?" Gajeel demanded as they stepped out of the library.

"Nope. She probably found out from the guild master," Lily said.

"Interfering old pain in the ass."


	4. Blackmailing the Black Dragon

This one is because I adored that little scene where Gajeel and Wendy were acting as Natsu's minions. They were so awesome together (not romantically, of course, she's like, 10) but the big brother attitude just-yeeeah. *happy Gajeel lover here* And, like any fanfic, if the characters seem OOC, um, sorry? And hey, I know he's not really a black dragon, he's silver, but the alliteration was too good to pass up. Think of it more like in the term "black Irish" or "Black Knight," kay?

Oh, and if anyone hasn't read my oneshot, The Tsundere, go read it now! Or, you know, after you've read this one, whichever!

And for DarkAngel: Gajeel told Lily what he did (somewhat) to Levy in chapter 2, the second story Full Moon Sake. So, yeah, Lily knows. There are a few running plots/jokes in these stories, but over all I think each of them can stand on their own as oneshots^^

* * *

**Blackmailing the Black Dragon**

**Characters: Gajeel, Wendy, Pantherlily, Levy  
**

One wouldn't expect it, Lily thought as he ate his dinner, but there was a connection between Gajeel and Wendy, just like there was between Gajeel and Natsu. The difference was, though, that Wendy and Gajeel didn't war it out like Natsu and he did. In fact, Wendy was heading towards them in her shy little manner even as the metal dragon took a bite out of his mug.

Gajeel didn't say a word as the little girl slipped into place next to him. He didn't even look up as Mirajane brought a plate of food for her. But he knew she was there. It was clear in the way he sat that he was trying not to make a move that would startle the little girl away.

"I did a job," she said as she started to eat. The hint of a brag in her voice reminded Lily of when Coco had bragged to him in the past.

"That's good," Gajeel drawled.

"All by myself," she added.

"Wouldn't expect any less," Gajeel said, still sounding a bit bland. Discreetly the metal dragon glanced over to make sure she wasn't beaten up too badly. She didn't have a scratch on her. "What was it?" he asked after a long stretch of silence.

"They wanted a healer to come in and look at someone," she said. "He was pretty sick." She stabbed a carrot, looking at it thoughtfully as her feet kicked under the table. "I happened to pass by this school along the way," she added before eating her vegetable.

Gajeel jerked, suddenly going still as he realized what she was talking about. The strain was obvious in his voice when he finally managed to say something. "That's nice."

"It was interesting," she went on, with a wicked hint of cheer in her voice. "I never knew you liked kids," she went on when Gajeel didn't say anything. "That playground you made them? That was really, really-"

"Okay, fine, what do you want to keep quiet?" Gajeel asked her, turning to glower down at the little sky dragon. She grinned up at him shamelessly and Lily literally saw Gajeel's Adam's apple go up and down.

"Make me one!" she said, grabbing his arm. "Make me a playground!"

"There's an entire pool area here," he told her.

"Yeah, but I want a playground, too!" She hugged his arm tightly, tugging on it. "With a really twisty, twisty slide and a set of swings and one of those spinning table things, and maybe some of those rocker dragons that go back and forth, and-"

"Oye, wait now, I didn't make it nearly that big. A slide and a fort-"

"But I drew pictures and everything," she said, her eyes big and pleading.

Gajeel groaned and looked around to make sure no one was watching them. "And where am I supposed to build this massive playground of yours?" he asked. "It's not like we can put it in the back-" He stopped, cursing as she nodded happily. "I am not building this behind the guild!"

"I already asked Master Makarov and he said we could!"

"You told the old man?" Gajeel yelped.

"And I'm looking forward to it, too!" Makarov called from across the room.

Gajeel groaned, staring blindly at the food in front of him. "Fine. Just don't tell anyone, got it?"

"Got it!" she said. She started eating, her legs still swinging happily under the table. Gajeel muttered something dark, shaking his head before he looked over at her.

"You're just dying to show me the picture, aren't you?"

"I'm gonna finish dinner first because we gotta go over it part by part," she told him. "You gotta get it exacccctly right, understand?"

"Yeah, yeah," Gajeel muttered. They finished their meals companionably, simply because Lily didn't mention the fact that everyone in the guild would know about the playground before the day was through.

He was wrong, actually. After the first two poles went up the entire guild was outside, drinking beer and watching as Gajeel built the little girl's dream playground. The only thing that kept Gajeel from running was how Wendy followed him around, offering to help with anything she could, which didn't amount to much.

"So... he is making that slide big enough for adults, right?" Levy asked Lily, making the Exsheed glance up at her in surprise.

"Think he should?" he asked.

"Well, I mean, it looks so massive, I don't see why-I really, really want to go on that slide," she admitted, looking up at the twenty foot tall slide that corkscrewed down to the ground.

"Go ask him yourself," Lily said with a smirk, not budging except to take the mug of beer that Mirajane offered him. Levy only hesitated for a heartbeat before heading for the dragon slayers working. Or dragon slayer. Wendy was busy trying out the ladder for the slide that Levy seemed so intent on.

He watched, sitting next to Cana on a table someone had brought out and sipping his beer. After a strange look, Gajeel nodded as Levy asked him, shrugging slightly. Lily could almost read his mind. A metal playground would probably support an elephant, much less a female that probably weighed a hundred pounds at most.

"We're going to need some shade trees," someone said from behind Lily. "That metal will get too hot without them."

"And how about a couple more tables?"

The guild went to work, leaving Lily to watch with amusement as Gajeel glowered at them. "Oye! Lily!" Gajeel bellowed as he caught sight of the Exsheed. "Get your ass out here! I'm not the only one that was busted!"

Then he stopped as everyone looked at him curiously, and muttered something dark. "There goes his bribe," Lily said, finishing off his beer and heading in to help. He would have to stop the dragon slayer before he tossed in a scrap metal hell pool, anyway.


	5. Guild Watching & Buster Marm

Another two for one, since the first flowed so well into the second^^

And for the comments about the slide, never, never underestimate the power of a corkscrew slide that's twenty feet tall! Plus, every single kid in the town comes to play on it now, so Wendy can use it to make friends her own age (and younger, but I doubt she minds.)

A question for my lovely readers: do you think these chapters are too long? I don't want to overwhelm you guys.

* * *

**Guild Watching**

**Characters: Gajeel, Pantherlily**

Gajeel found himself watching several people in the guild. Of course, most of that was out of self preservation, or just morbid fascination. He watched Makarov to make sure the little guy wasn't going to lose his temper (or abruptly spank Levy's butt, but that was another topic entirely) he watched Natsu because the chance to start a bar fight was too good to pass up. He watched Titania because he couldn't help but think of her as a walking buffet, and he watched Lucy because she had beaten Bixlow and he had no clue why. And of course he watched Juvia because he tried to take cues from her in dealing with the crazy freaks that surrounded them.

But there were three that he watched because he couldn't help himself. He watched Levy because, well, she was freakin' hot in a cute way. Not to mention he kept getting paranoid that she would decide she was terrified of him again and his life would be made hell once more. He watched Wendy because as far as he was concerned she was like a little sister. And, most importantly right now, he watched Pantherlily.

And Pantherlily watched Charle.

"If you like her, you're gonna haveta deal with the blue cat," Gajeel said quietly, leaning back against the wall behind them and crossing his arms over his chest. "I've been waiting to see you take him. Here, I'll make you a new blade-"

"It's not that," Lily said. "She looks a lot like the Queen," he added. The almost silent conversation went unnoticed in the chaotic place. "Although I'll take a new blade if you're offering one."

"Ahh, so you got a thing for the Queen?" Gajeel asked, ignoring the blade comment. "Wait... would that make you Charle's-"

"No, I'm not," Lily said before Gajeel could jump to an awkward conclusion.

"Oh," Gajeel said. "So... who is?"

Lily shrugged, looking away from the little white cat. She was a pretty little thing, and a part of him wished he was her father. But he had never been high up enough for that position. "Who knows," he said.

The two were silent as Gajeel thought the subject over for a long, long moment. "How old are you, anyway?" he asked abruptly.

"Older than you," Lily said. "In Exsheed age, that is."

"What, you age like dogs or something?"

"We just mature faster."

"Ah," Gajeel said. He watched silently as Lily's eyes went back to the little white cat. "The Queen, she's not that far away, right? And with things the way they are-"

"Levy's sitting right over there," Lily said. He knew he had made his point when Gajeel stopped talking. Or at least, he thought he had.

"That's different," Gajeel protested.

"How is it different?"

"Because I still haven't figured out how to get rid of fishtail and hat head," Gajeel rumbled irritably, giving up on denying it, "without a half a ton of steel and some superglue."

"Superglue?" Lily repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"That would be just for personal entertainment."

They were silent for a moment while Lily fought the twitch of his lips and failed. "You really are a sadistic bastard," he told his partner with a hint of a laugh. The purely evil grin that crossed Gajeel's lips made him laugh out loud. "But you see where I'm coming from," Lily added.

Gajeel went silent, looking over at the blue haired girl reading a book at the bar. She and Lucy sat there, engrossed in whatever they were reading. "Nah, not really," Gajeel said finally. "You didn't crucify the Queen."

"She's forgiven you," Lily said. "Why don't you get over it, too?"

Gajeel said nothing, but his eyes stayed on Levy, a slight frown on his lips. At least he wasn't watching Lily anymore, Lily thought with a smirk. That gave him the chance to turn back to Charle.

Gajeel wasn't the only one who watched people.

* * *

**Buster Marm**

**Characters: Pretty much everyone.**

"I think this is about the right size," Gajeel said, eying the blade he was forging. He had created the base metal from his magic, saying it was less likely to break that way then he had started forging it with his hands, using them as mallets. What was really funny was how he had pissed Natsu off to heat the metal properly.

"What's it for?" Natsu demanded. His curiosity had been sparked when Gajeel eyed the red metal for a moment before walking away without even fighting.

"None of your business," Gajeel said. Lily was watching like a hawk from the table next to them. He had been there to see Gajeel create the forger's anvil, he had been there to explain the blade's plans, making sure it was perfect, and to fight with Gajeel when the dragon made changes to it. Now he was there to watch (very, very closely) as his partner forged his new blade.

The metal thinned, and Gajeel folded it, pounding it flat again before folding it a second time. "Oye, heat this," he ordered Natsu when it started cooling again. Shockingly, Natsu did as told.

"You already got a blade, though," Natsu said. "That iron dragon whatchacallit."

"The Iron Dragon Blade, moron," Gajeel said.

"Yeah, so what's this one for?"

"It's mine," Lily said. "He broke my last one."

Natsu looked at the six foot long blade (the handle hadn't been added yet) then at the one foot tall Exsheed. "But-"

"It's smaller than the last one," Gajeel said. "But it's harder to balance with his height now."

"I see," Natsu said, nodding and clapping one fist into his opposite hand. "Makes sense."

Lily didn't even look up, his eyes were glued to the metal that Gajeel was folding once again. This was definitely going to be worth the wait.

"I hear a familiar sound." The voice made Lily glance up when nothing else would. Erza had just walked in.

"Oh no," Gajeel said. "You're not telling me how to make a blade."

"What are you making a blade for?" she asked as she walked into the grimy basement room. Her eyes went to the steel work just as Lily's did. "That is a very impressive blade. I've always wondered what a dragon forged blade would be like."

"No you haven't," Natsu said.

"I would have, had I known that one of you could make one," she said, watching the blade making process with the same rapt attention that Happy gave a fish. Gajeel grunted, folding the steel and pounding it back into shape again. He was using his magic to help form it, but the entire process was that of a master making a masterpiece. "So... when will you make mine?" she asked.

"Your what?" Gajeel asked.

"My new blade."

"Not interested."

"What's everyone doing down here?" Wendy asked, peeking out from the stairway behind them. Charle was with her, as usual, but she didn't seem very happy.

"It's noisy, whatever it is," Charle complained.

"Gajeel's making Lily a new blade," Natsu informed them cheerfully.

"If you're just going to talk, make yourself useful and heat this again," Gajeel said, holding up the blade for Natsu to heat.

"Can I help?" Wendy asked, squirming her way past Erza so she could watch the other dragon slayers.

"Yeah," Gajeel agreed. "Talk Lily out of that gaudy as hell cat head hilt he's trying for."

Wendy looked over at Lily, then up at Gajeel. "But he likes the cat head hilt," she told him.

Gajeel shook his head, folded the metal again, and went back to pounding. Since Wendy's job was done she looked around the room for somewhere to sit, pulling herself up next to Lily to watch the work, as well.

"Natsu? Erza?" Lucy called from the top of the stairs. "Are you guys down here?"

And just like that, one by one or in groups, the basement became crowded with bored guild members calling out suggestions or just making it hotter by being down there. Gajeel muttered something dark and shrugged his shirt off, holding up the blade for Natsu to heat again.

The room was getting noisy, but Lily still saw Gajeel jerk as he heard Levy call down the stairs. "Where did everyone go?" the blue haired girl asked.

"We're down here, Levy!" Lucy called out.

Lily looked at Gajeel, smirking evilly. "So that's why you did it here," he said quietly, making Gajeel jerk and glower at him.

"Do what here?" Natsu asked, having heard every word, regardless of the banging of the metal.

"Nothing," Gajeel muttered.

"Great timing with the shirt," Lily added evilly.

"You want this sword or not?" Gajeel demanded.

"What are you doing here?" Natsu demanded, getting irritated.

"None of your business," Gajeel muttered. "Heat this again."

"Not until you tell me," Natsu replied, evilly.

"Wow, I've never actually seen someone make a sword before," Levy said, weaving through the group. "Did your dragon teach you to make them?"

"Yeah," Gajeel muttered, looking bashful. "Would you heat the damn blade already?" he demanded, shoving the metal in Natsu's face.

"Not until you tell me!"

"Heat the damn blade!"

"Not until you tell me!"

The two dragons were forehead to forehead, glaring each other in the eye. Levy was completely forgotten, and so, Lily thought in despair, was his blade.

"I'm never going to get my Buster Marm," he lamented as the two dragons broke into a fistfight, dragging all the other guild members in as well.


	6. RoboLily & Cute

And here we go again! These two were a lot of fun, but I was honestly debating between this pair and the next one-shot for this chapter. Oh well, neither relies on the other so it's all good^^ And since the next one's about Halloween the closer we get to October, the better!

For Yuriski: yeah, I knew that in my head but my fingers automatically type "air dragon" because they're stupid and I need to keep a better leash on them *sighs* I'll go fix that next!

For ShyButterflyKiss: Some of the girls got in on it! If you look real close at the "wheres Waldo" scenes in the manga you can definitely see skirts in the midst of the brawls. I know Cana enjoys them! But others, like Levy, Lucy, and Wendy hang to the side and watch, usually.

For the rest of you adorable people: much love to you guys that have been reviewing every chapter, practically! If you get impatient waiting for my next chapter all you have to do is click on the reviewers, we've got some seriously fun reads there! And *cough cough* while you're at it, you might nudge them into doing some more Gajeel and Levy fics, right?

* * *

**Robo-Lily**

**Characters: Gajeel, Pantherlily, Makarov, Mirajane, Cana**

The biggest problem with their tiny little apartment was Gajeel's habit of collecting strange gadgets that did even stranger things. Whenever the metal dragon saw something interesting during their missions he would automatically buy it, putting it in the tattered leather bag that he kept his stuff in. When he got home he would pull it out, examine it thoroughly, then take it apart and put it back together again a few times until he was bored. That often led to pieces of gadgets in strange places.

Lily made a face, twisting in his chair and pulling out a strange looking gear. "What does this go to?" he asked the metal dragon standing in the kitchen, searching the fridge for something to drink. Gajeel glanced over, eying the gear for a moment before he shrugged.

"Don't remember," he said.

Lily tossed the gear into the box he had marked "don't remember" and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. The "don't remember" box was three times as full as the "remember" box was. And, unfortunately, those that went in the "remember" box usually came with the line "but I ate the rest of that."

"That's probably why you're broke most of the time," he added as the metal dragon made a satisfied sound and pulled out two bottles of beer.

"We'll get another job," Gajeel said, dropping down on the chair next to Lily's and handing over one of the bottles. He tossed the bottle cap he had removed for the Exsheed into his mouth, munching on it like candy.

"You can make things, right?" Lily said, thinking of his Buster Marm. He had finally gotten his partner to finish it after the battle with Natsu was finished. The day after, actually. "Why don't we put that stuff to use?"

"For what?"

"We can sell whatever you make out of it, that way I won't get a gear stuck up my ass every time I sit down," Lily said with a drawl.

Gajeel frowned, eying the boxes along with Lily. "You really think it'd sell?"

"Why not? There's a lot of people that buy strange shit. Just look at you," Lily said, taking another gulp.

"I don't buy strange shit."

"You bought a magical bottle opener," Lily said.

"And it worked, too."

"You're a walking bottle opener all by yourself."

"Yeah, but I'm not a magical bottle opener."

Lily looked at him, wondering how he could keep a straight face while saying that. Gajeel relented, far easier than he would with any other person on the planet. "Fine. I just wanted to see how it worked. Happy now?"

"These are the last two beers in the house, aren't they?" Lily asked as he took another gulp. "Let's get to work before they're gone." He stood, carrying his beer bottle with him and started through the "don't remember" box, looking for pieces that might go together. Gajeel dropped down next to him a few seconds later, digging through the "remember" box with the same look of serious concentration that he always got when playing with one of his gadgets.

Between the two of them things started going together, even if neither of them knew exactly what it was that they were making. About halfway through, Gajeel grunted, his eyes lighting up as something clicked in his brain. His hands started moving faster and Lily was reduced to handing him the parts that he asked for and wondering what in the hell he was making.

It was too late to stop the metal dragon when he realized what was happening. Besides, he thought with reluctant amusement, Gajeel seemed so happy about it he wouldn't have stopped him even if he could.

The next day Gajeel stepped into the guild, carrying his masterpiece covered with a tattered cloth. He placed it on the table proudly, pulling back the sheet so everyone could see. "I'm done," he said.

"Is that-" Cana started out, almost pouring her keg on herself as she stared in shock.

"I call it Robo-Lily!" Gajeel bragged as everyone stared at the metallic version of the Exsheed blankly.

"What's he do?" Makarov asked.

"He-"

"Opens bottles," Lily said, reluctantly.

"And cans," Gajeel added. "Couldn't quite get it to fly, but I still have the wing attachments."

"I was just telling the Master I needed a new can opener! Thank you, Gajeel!" Mira said, shocking both of them as she crossed the room and picked up the Robo-Lily. "And he's so cute, too!" She grabbed the metal wings that hung limply from Gajeel's hand and headed off to the kitchen with both.

"But-" Gajeel said. "We were going to-"

"As thanks why don't I feed you both for free for the next week?" Mira called over, already dressing Robo-Lily up in clothes.

"Where, exactly, did you get the parts for the can opener?" Makarov asked curiously.

"Around."

"But you're a-"

"We've already discussed that one," Lily told the Guild Master with amusement. He glanced up with a hint of appreciation as Mira placed a massive platter of food in front of him, and a strange metallic colored meal in front of Gajeel.

Gajeel shrugged and sat down, starting to eat. At least they had gotten something out of their hard work. He was halfway through his meal when Mira let out a startled scream and everyone raced to the kitchen to see what the problem was. "I just wanted him to open a can," she said, moving out of the way.

The Robo-Lily had opened the can. It still held its miniature Buster Marm as the lid from the can dropped to the ground with a clatter.

"How else would you open a can?" Gajeel asked blankly. "You gonna do anything with that lid?"

"I told him I wouldn't use my Buster Marm to open a can," Lily complained. "That's disrespectful to the blade."

"I'd use my Iron Dragon Blade," Gajeel told him. "You're just too picky."

"The last time you used your Iron Dragon Blade to open a can we were cleaning sauce off the walls for days," Lily told him as they headed back to their table. "The can didn't even have sauce in it," he added dryly.

"Are you okay, Mira-chan?" Makarov asked, seeing as the two obviously didn't see the problem.

"He'll be really useful for cutting up vegetables, too, won't he?" she asked, eyeing the Robo-Lily happily.

In the diner area, Lily and Gajeel were finished with their food and realizing the most important thing. "We're still out of beer, aren't we?"

* * *

**Cute**

**Characters: Gajeel, Pantherlily, Levy**

"Isn't this cute?" The voice woke Lily up and the Exsheed quickly took stock of where they were. The mission had gotten a bit messy, but it was finished and they were heading back to Fiore on a train. Exhausted from taking out a massive bandit horde (or perhaps it was from pilfering all their weapons for snacks) Gajeel had promptly fallen asleep on the train, hauling Lily into his arms like a toy.

That was how these two strangers had found them. Lily looked at them blandly.

"He can't sleep without his teddy bear!" the second guy, a strange fellow with a nose piercing and a mowhawk hooted.

"I wouldn't wake him if I were you," Lily said quietly. "He's such a pain when he's woken up too early." Gently he slipped out of Gajeel's grasp, standing on the metal dragon's lap and popping his neck lazily. "I'll take care of this."

Gajeel let out a snore, still sound asleep. Before the two goons could reply Lily had taken to the air, his heel slamming the mowhawk man on the top of his head so hard that his face smashed into the ground before the rest of him got the chance to hit it. Then he twisted, round housing the other man into the metal wall of the train cabin. The man slid down the wall unconsciously, falling in a limp pile.

For a second the little Exsheed snorted, straightening his clothing before he grabbed both males by their collars and hauled them out of the cabin. Once he was finished stowing them in the luggage compartments he headed back to the two chairs where Gajeel was still sleeping. He got into his own chair, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes. But he didn't say a word as Gajeel reached over in his sleep, hauling him back into his arms. And far more quickly than he had ever expected, he fell asleep as well. It was Gajeel's cursing that woke him up almost an hour later.

"What?" Lily demanded irritably, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"You beat the shit out of some guys and I didn't even get to see it," Gajeel complained. "You should have at least woke me up so I could watch," he added as he grabbed his bag from the compartment over their seats.

"You're the idiot that slept through it," Lily told him with a snort. "Besides, I took out several of them when we were taking down bandits. Had you not been so busy smacking heads together and stealing their weapons you would have seen those go down, too."

"Where'd you put them? We can drag them out and you can do it again!" Gajeel said with an evil grin. Obviously the fight with the bandits was no longer a concern for him.

"They're probably not conscious yet, and I want to get back to our apartment before they kick us out for not paying the rent," Lily said as he grabbed his own bag and headed for the exit.

"So what did they do, anyway?" Gajeel asked as they headed out of the train station, walking through the now familiar streets of Fiore.

"I don't want to talk about it," Lily muttered.

"C'mon, I wanna know what gets you to fight!"

"Fine. They called me a teddy bear," Lily said, still twitching over the thought. He jerked as Gajeel grabbed him, holding him in one arm. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Seeing if we can't get it to happen again."

"You moron," he muttered, crossing his arms irritably over his chest. They walked half a mile without anyone saying a word. "You forgot where we were," he added, evilly amused now. "Everyone knows who we are."

"Dammit," Gajeel muttered, now pouting.

"Gajeel, Lily! What are you two doing?" Levy called from one of the stores they passed, running after them. "Is there something wrong with Lily?"

"Do you think Lily looks like a teddy bear?" Gajeel asked her, holding up his partner.

"Well, he does have rounded ears," the blue haired female said. "But Lily's way cuter than a teddy bear."

"She just told you you were cute-" Gajeel started out.

"Thank you," Lily told her.

"What? You just kicked two guys' asses for calling you a teddy bear! What's with this reaction?" Gajeel roared.

"When a girl calls you cute, it's completely different," Lily said, getting out of Gajeel's arms and taking to the air. "Now come on, already, we've got rent to pay."

Gajeel glanced over at the confused looking Levy then shrugged, since he knew the plot hadn't been thought out anyway, and chased after his cat. "Let's try it with Natsu!" Gajeel yelled at the Exsheed.

"Won't work. He's the same way with Happy, practically."

"We can still try!"

Levy watched them for a moment before shaking her head and heading back to her shopping. Ever since Gajeel had brought home Lily he had been acting as goofy as Natsu usually did.

It was kind of cute. In a terrifying way.


	7. All Hallow's Eve

Well, this is the second to last chapter of Me and My Cat, guys. But don't worry! When I was writing this I started writing another ficlet that evolved into a full length story, so as soon as this is over you'll be reading the sequel, which... I have yet to name. It's more Gajeel/Levy centric, but there's plenty of Gajeel and Lily interaction, because I adore them.

For Mirime: Gajeel's nose told him that two people came in, that there small splatters of blood, and that they didn't belong to Lily. Never underestimate a dragon slayers nose!

For all my loverly readers, I hope you enjoy this one! But I would understand if you have complaints. Gajeel can be a bit of a jerk (or try to be) sometimes. And seriously, my take on Gajeel is that he really, really sucks with the ladies. Poor, lacking-in-social-skills punk.

* * *

**All Hallow's Eve**

**Characters: Pretty much everyone again**

"What the hell did I do this time?" Gajeel asked as he woke up from yet another brawl in the guild. They had done exactly what they-no, what he did after a long mission. He had come to the guild and started up a bar fight, just because he could. In fact, Lily was positive that that was Gajeel's favorite part about Fairy Tail.

Lily climbed out of his partner's arm, stretching his back as he looked around to see what the other male was talking about. Levy was all the way across the room, sound asleep. Lately, Lily had noticed, she had been running whenever Gajeel showed up and staying a good distance when they were in the same room. He knew that fact bothered the dragon slayer more than he would ever admit. "You started a fight over who had the biggest horn," he told the man. "Then Erza pulled out her jewel studded one, which somehow seems to have gotten shoved up Max's butt-she's not going to like that," he added, frowning slightly.

"Max's butt?"

"It probably ruined the tip finish," Lily replied.

Gajeel snorted, running a hand over his face. "What day is it?"

"The thirtieth of the tenth month," Lily said. "Why, is there something important about it?"

"All Hallow's Eve is tomorrow," Gajeel said, his evil grin showing once again. "C'mon, we got stuff to do!"

"Are you sure-" Lily said, only to find himself dragged along behind his partner as Gajeel headed out of the guild, racing down the street to an empty building.

"This will do," Gajeel said, smirking up at the building.

"Do what?" Lily demanded as Gajeel headed inside, still hauling him along. "What are we doing?"

"A horror house, what else?" Gajeel said, eying the empty rafters above them. He let go of Lily, flipping and planting daggers into the rafters from his boot soles so he was hanging like a bat. "Right here we'll hang the swinging axe," he told Lily. "I've got one somewhere."

"A real axe?"

"What's the use of a fake one? We're going to need some curtains or something," he went on as he pulled himself up onto the rafter. "Maybe chainmail curtains, what do you think?"

"You know people might get killed if they come in here," Lily said, already picturing his horror house and wincing.

"Then they're weaklings and deserve to die," Gajeel said, not sounding worried in the least. "Let's go shopping," he said, dropping down from the rafters. "Some hostages would be good, too," he added thoughtfully as he headed toward the door.

They both pulled to a stop as they saw Levy walking down the street, several books in her arms. Lily jerked, seeing a strange smirk appear on Gajeel's face. "No," he said.

"Why not?" Gajeel asked. "It's not like it'll kill her."

"Just because she's been avoiding you lately-" It was too late, Lily realized as Gajeel disappeared and appeared again behind the blue haired girl. He towered over her, and the evil look on his face made it look like something straight out of a horror movie. Lily started to run.

Levy yelped, turning around with a terrified expression on her face as Gajeel breathed against her throat. "Don't do that!" she scolded him.

"Those books," Gajeel said, disregarding her personal space. "They're those horror novels you like to read?"

She went pale then turned to glare at Lily. "You said you wouldn't tell!"

"I have no idea how he found out," Lily said honestly.

"You read out loud to the bunny girl once in a while," Gajeel said.

"Yeah, but on the other side of the room!" she said. "You-you can hear that?"

He just looked at her before changing the subject. "I need some-"

"Help," Lily said before he could use the word "hostages." "Gajeel wants to make a horror house."

"Like a haunted house?" Levy asked, her eyes growing wide. "Really? With ghosts and everything?"

"I wasn't planning on ghosts, but if you think they'd work," Gajeel said thoughtfully. "I got a gigantic axe somewhere that I haven't eaten yet, and some chainmail in the pool, now that I think about it."

"I'll help! I'll definitely help!" Levy said, smiling so brightly that Gajeel stared at her blankly for a moment. "Just no trying to horrify me, too, got it!" she added bossily. "I'll go get Lucy!"

"Bunny girl?" Gajeel said blankly. He looked over at Lily, who shrugged. "Thanks for getting rid of my hostage," he added darkly as he started for the guild.

"Trust me, this is better," Lily said. "You get help on your horror house and make a cute girl happy at the same time."

"Maybe I'll chain bunny girl to the wall instead," Gajeel muttered. He didn't seem to be listening to Lily at all. "Just ain't horror without a girl screaming."

"I'd rather not," Lily muttered, wincing at the very idea.

"Yeah, you're right. She doesn't scream worth shit."

They were digging through the metal in the pool when Natsu came out, yelling Gajeel's name. "You're making a haunted house?" the fire dragon demanded.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Gajeel asked around a mouthful of steel.

"I could make a way better haunted house than you could!"

"Sure you couldn't."

They glowered at each other. "I'll go talk to Levy!" Natsu declared. Lily made a note not to tell the girl that both dragons apparently knew about her hobby.

"She's already helping me!" Gajeel yelled after him.

"Not for long!"

Gajeel hauled out some more chainmail, tossing it on the ground next to the pool before he pulled out a metal wheel with spikes on it. "This might come in handy, too," he said, Natsu's declaration forgotten entirely.

"He's taking Levy, you know," Lily said.

Gajeel snorted. "Figures." He jumped out of the pool, eying it for a moment. "I'm going to have to restock again after this."

"You took the water out completely, didn't you," someone said from behind them. "Now it's not even a pool."

"The metal was getting rusty," Gajeel said as he turned. "What do you want, Titania?"

"I've come to offer my assistance with your haunted house," she said, as if he should be honored by that fact. She grabbed the massive axe he had tossed to the side and eyed it thoughtfully. "It should be sharpened," she told him. "You don't pay enough attention to your blades."

"That was my dinner, not my blade," Gajeel told her.

"Even so," she said, her lecturing mode full blast. He would have argued with her, if he hadn't gotten the crap knocked out of him by her a few times in bar fights before. "So what should I be doing?"

He looked at her blankly. "I don't know, what should you be doing?" he finally asked.

"You're right, I should be overseeing the others!" she announced, much to his befuddlement, and walked away. Both Gajeel and Lily just stood there for a long moment, taking in what had just happened.

"She's a lot like Edolas's Erza," Lily finally said with a shrug.

"I'll take your word on it," Gajeel said, grabbing the metal and heading out. He stopped in front of the building he had chosen a few minutes later, looking at it blankly. "What did they do to this place?"

There were flames flaring out of the windows and the word "Ghost" weaving in and out of the building. The bunny girl stood outside the door, scantily dressed in a ghost kimono and holding a sign that said "Haunted House." Strange noises came from inside, which went somewhat like "Puuuuun, puuuuun" and he could smell all of the guild members from where he stood.

Gajeel's horror house had been taken over. "Come on in!" Lucy called happily. "We've almost got it set up already!"

"I thought Salamander was doing his own house," Gajeel muttered, his left eye twitching.

"Levy said yours sounded more interesting," Lucy said. "So he got stuck helping here."

"And what is taking so long?" Erza demanded. "I've already rigged the hook for the axe."

Gajeel glowered at her, lifted the axe to his mouth, and took a massive bite out of it. Erza was about to say something when Levy came racing out the door with a smile. "Come on!" she said to the two males. "We even set up a place for you two!"

"What-"

"We need a hostage, right? It'd definitely set the mood," she went on, completely ignoring Gajeel's confusion, as well as his mouthful of axe. "So we thought we'd have you chained up in one of the rooms! Then when people come in you can bite through the chain and scare them! And Lily will be one of the tour guides!"

Lily didn't breathe for a moment. He was positive that Gajeel would do something uncivilized. And honestly, after having his latest toy taken away like this, he wouldn't have been able to blame him. But abruptly Gajeel smirked.

"I hope you brought a lot of chains," he said.

Maybe, Lily thought, in Gajeel's mind the fact that she wasn't avoiding him anymore was worth giving up control of the horror house. But Lily really doubted that an all night buffet hurt.


	8. Jealousy & Omake

(Spoilers in the rant, if you haven't read 202 go read it already!)

The final chapter before I kick off a full length Gajeel/Levy story that I've written^^ I hope you've enjoyed it, I know I have! And yes, yes, this weekend was a major fangirling moment for GajLevy fans everywhere! I seriously read it like ten times just for that scene and was squeeing over the way the line "who's the one after Levy?" came and then Gajeel showed up out of nowhere. It was SO fitting! I actually saved the pages and made wallpapers for myself out of them. And did you guys see the smirk on Lily's face? He clearly supports this pairing! Or he thinks it's a good way to get in better with the guild, but still! And Gajeel wasn't even around when Juvia needed a partner, and we know they're pals, so I figure he had his "prey" picked out from the very start! I can't WAIT for the next chapter! And I was so tempted to write a scene with Lily and lightening/thunder after I read the cover page, but I want to start posting the next story. Somebody write it for me! But just in case I get the urge I won't mark this fic as complete.

About Omake: I tried adding more to it, then realized it ruined the flow. This one made me laugh for an entire day, guys, so I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

**Jealousy**

**Characters: Gajeel, Erza, Pantherlily**

Gajeel had been fighting a sneaking suspicion for a while. He scowled as he watched Erza and Lily chat happily over a piece of strawberry cake and a beer. Lily enjoyed talking with the fighter, and the fighter obviously had the good sense to know good company (except for Natsu) when she saw it. But-

He waited until Lily left to get another beer, slipping into the cat's spot and glowering at Erza. "You can't have my cat," he told her.

"And what makes you think I'm trying to take your cat?" she asked after a stunned look.

"You know how awesome he is. Who wouldn't want him?" he demanded. "But you can't have him. I'm the dragon slayer here, I'm the one that gets the cat!"

A smirk crossed her lips, one that very few people saw. For some reason she found it enjoyable making the metal dragon's life hell. "So you admit that I'm a threat," she said evilly.

"He likes you," he muttered, irritated by the fact. "Because you remind him of the other you, even though she's the one that shot him!"

"You're still stuck on that one, aren't you?"

"She shot my cat!" he said, his irritation brought back full force.

"I heard you used Iron Dragon Breath on him."

"Yeah, but it didn't almost kill him!"

"It could have," she replied. The two were glaring at each other over the table by the time Lily came back with a mug of beer and another slice of strawberry cake.

"Am I interrupting something?" Lily asked. "I can always go talk with Happy and Charle."

"No!" both said at the same time.

"Are we going to have to take this outside?" Erza asked.

"If you're trying to steal my cat, we sure as hell are," Gajeel said, standing.

"She's trying to what?" Lily asked blankly.

"He thinks because I'm friends with you I might be trying to steal you away," Erza said evilly. "In other words, he's a jealous brat."

The strangest thing happened then. Lily started to smirk which rapidly turned into an evil grin worthy of Gajeel, himself. "Then we should probably tell him, don't you think, Erza?"

"Tell me what?" Gajeel asked, shocked by what he was positive he was about to hear.

"Erza is using me," Lily told him.

"What? How dare you use my cat?" Gajeel demanded, turning on the sword mage.

"To keep an eye on you," Lily finished before a fight could break out. "She won't be trying to take me away; she wants me right where I am."

Gajeel scowled but leaned back, giving the Exsheed a disgruntled look. "You knew that?" he asked his cat.

"I just told you," Lily said. "So don't worry, I won't be joining Team Natsu any time soon."

Gajeel snorted and walked away, scowling to cover the look of betrayal in his eyes. Lily muttered something dark, gulped down his beer and started after Gajeel.

"You can, you know," Erza said. "We'd welcome you along if you want to come."

Lily looked at her, then back at the metal dragon. "Yeah, but he's my partner. He and I..." He shrugged. "It's pretty much the closest I've come to having a brother."

"You should probably tell him that," Erza said. "Before he goes and starts another brawl."

He nodded and actually flew up, looking over the bar. The sight of the metal dragon gulping down beer in the corner showed that he had hurt the guy enough to bypass the brawl and go straight to the drinking. He landed on the table, scowling as Gajeel turned away from him.

"Look, I am keeping an eye on you," he muttered. "But there's nothing to tell her as far as I can see. She did find the teaching regiment interesting, but only because she hadn't thought of it before. And the couple of bandit guilds we took out? She just wondered how we managed not to destroy buildings along the way."

Gajeel still didn't say anything. His scowl could have melted ice. Lily growled, irritated with this. It was like dealing with a girl, he thought darkly. "Do you really think I would join that group? It's too damn loud for one, and I'd always be expected to act like Happy. Don't get me wrong, Happy's fine in small bites, but the idea of being on mission after mission with him?"

Gajeel snorted, showing that he had gotten through. But he was still scowling, so Lily thought quickly. "And can you really see me following Erza around? She'd stick me in a full outfit of armor."

"You'd probably like that," Gajeel muttered, so clearly pouting that Lily let out a groan.

"She doesn't need me," Lily said.

"You saying I do?" Gajeel growled.

"You're the most hated man in the guild. The closest to a friend other than me you've got is Natsu," he said bluntly. "And you hate him."

"He ain't my friend."

"Exactly." Lily looked at his partner, irritated that this situation had even come up. "Look, I don't tell her private things that are none of her business. Who would you rather have following around? Someone that'll keep your stupid hobbies a secret or someone that's just looking for a way to trip you up and get you kicked out."

"They aren't stupid hobbies," Gajeel snapped.

"Does Robo-Lily ring any bells?"

"Robo-Lily was your idea."

"Well, yeah... so it's both our stupid hobbies," Lily muttered. "She doesn't know, and I'm not about to tell her, got it? By me reporting you can earn enough respect that maybe in the next S-class trial you'll be allowed to participate."

"I still don't like it," Gajeel muttered. "You sure you're not going to skip out on me the moment Erza gets you a mini-armor?"

"You built me a new Buster Marm," Lily pointed out.

"I broke the first one," Gajeel pointed out. "Least I could do."

"That was a great fight."

"Yeah."

"Erza would have never slammed me through an entire floating mountain and bust my favorite blade, then keep coming," Lily said.

"You did damn good, too," Gajeel said. "You brushed off my dragon breath like it was nothing."

"Stung like hell," Lily admitted. "I'm not saying she's not an excellent swordswoman, she's one of the best I've ever seen. It's just..."

They looked at each other, grinning a bit wickedly. Lily was almost positive that they didn't know another way to grin. "Yeah," Gajeel said.

"I won't tell her about you singing in the bath, either," Lily promised.

"What's wrong with my singing?"

"The lyrics are fine. It's your voice that could crack mirrors."

"There's nothing wrong with my voice," Gajeel protested.

"If you're tone deaf."

"You just don't appreciate good singing."

"I would if I'd ever heard it."

"See if I let you sing backup the next time I take over the stage."

"Warn me first and I'll make sure I'm not even in the same building," Lily replied. "Partners?" he asked, holding out his hand.

"Partners," Gajeel said, shaking the hand. "Even if you are an annoying spy."

* * *

**Omake**

**Characters: Lucy, Gajeel, Levy, Pantherlily**

Lucy stared. There was nothing else she could do. She had never seen a more seductive look in her life, and she had spent plenty of time with Loki. But this, this was strangely horrifying, because of who was making it.

Levy flipped the page of her book, glancing over at Gajeel to see if he was still listening. She swallowed at the look on his face, wondering why the heat was flowing to her face. She grabbed her glass of water and took a large gulp, only to wish it was colder. That look, she thought, she had never seen a look like that in her life. It made her insides twist and her throat get dry. She took another drink of water.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Do you, um, want me to go on?"

"You can if you want," he muttered. A little grin pulled at his lips as she looked back to the book quickly.

"She crept down the hall," Levy read, feeling his hot red eyes on her. "A trickle of sweat fell down her spine, sending chills throughout her body. He was coming. The note nailed to her door had warned her. Slowly, step by step she moved forward, her hands grasping-"

"That's enough for today," Lily said abruptly, taking the book from her hands.

"Wha-what?"

"Half of the females in the room just fainted," he complained, making Levy look around.

"Oh... But why are their noses bleeding?" she asked innocently. She got up, racing for Lucy, who had been the last to fall. "Lu-chan! What happened? What happened?"

Lily stayed right where he was, looking at his partner with a strange expression before glancing at the horror novel in his hand. "You really, really are a sadistic bastard."

"You stopped it right before it got to the good part," Gajeel complained.

"What part would that be? Or do I even want to know?" Lily demanded.

"I like it when she screams."

* * *

Thank you for reading! Please leave a note at the door before leaving!


	9. What Started the Change

This one was brought on by Gajeel chatting with Makarov during the parade. I thought it explained some interesting things, so I had to write it! And yes, somehow this fic just keeps going and going, I don't know how. Oh well, enjoy it!

* * *

**What Started the Change**

**Characters: Gajeel, Lily, Makarov, Levy**

Sometimes Gajeel didn't even want to talk with Lily. It kind of shocked him, even if he was positive no one else was surprised. Lily knew when it happened, too. The Exsheed would glance at him for a long moment, a crooked smile on his face before he pulled out a book and headed for his lounge chair. The silence would be different from the silence that Gajeel once knew. It would be comfortable.

It was at those times that Gajeel would think back, his mind sorting through the various guilds he had taken down, the missions that he had in Phantom, the growing self hatred that he had always thought was a natural part of life. A vital part of life.

And then he would remember that day.

"Gajeel drinks too much." The voice had shocked him, even if he hadn't shown it. How Juvia had found him in this hole in the wall bar, he had no clue, but he didn't care, either. His hand tightened around the handle of his mug, the knuckles turning white with the pressure. "Gajeel, Juvia is going to join Fairy Tail."

He jerked, finally responding to her. The metal dragon twisted on his booth, staring at her incredulously. "What?" he asked.

"You haven't found a new guild yet, have you."

It wasn't a question. The knowing tone in her voice made him sick to his stomach. What the hell was up with that, he thought. "Why the hell isn't it raining?" he asked instead, looking at the window with a scowl. He always knew when it was raining. Even if he was in the middle of a windowless room he knew when it was raining. His nose told him. "I could have avoided you if it was raining," he muttered, scowling at her.

"Juvia doesn't quite understand what you're saying," she admitted. "But Juvia doesn't make it rain anymore. Juvia has found love!"

"Oookay, freak," he muttered as she pulled herself into the chair next to him. She had changed her hair and her clothing style, which sort of freaked him out, as well. Especially that huge pendant she was wearing. What the hell had Fairy Tail done to her?

"Come with me?" The tone made him jerk and look at her in shock. She sounded like a little girl. She was even chewing on her bottom lip with worry.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked finally, once he had gotten his jaw back in place. Somehow it had dropped to the floor with his shock. "Their Guild Master took Master Jose out with a clap of his hands! What do you think he'd do to me if I-"

"He could have taken you out at the same time," Juvia said. "That was Fairy Law, which destroys all of the user's enemies at once. Gajeel is not his enemy." She reached out, touching his forearm with her tiny hand and he scowled down at it. When had her hands become so small? When they had been children, she had been bigger than him.

"Yeah, well-" he started out, blustering as he tried to come up with something. "I can find a guild." He hadn't tried. There was no good guild in this area other than Fairy Tail. And a part of him whispered that he hadn't ever seen a guild as strong as Fairy Tail.

He wanted to be part of a strong guild, dammit.

"Just talk to the Master," Juvia said, her hand tightening on his arm because he had failed to move it away from her. "Talk to the Master and see if he'll let you join. Gajeel can't survive like this."

"Who the hell do you think you are to say I can't survive like this?" he demanded, staring her straight in the eye.

"Juvia is Juvia," she said. "Juvia watched you grow up. Juvia knows, Gajeel," she went on passionately. "Juvia watched as you drew further and further into yourself. You can't keep going like this. And... and Juvia is scared to go alone."

He stared at her for a long moment, then stood, heading for the door. "Is-"

"Are we going or not?" he demanded roughly.

"Oh, thank you, Gajeel!" she said with a brilliant smile. She used to smile that way when they were children. As they grew, though, that smile had slowly faded away. He had hated it. It had made him feel even more bitter, because he knew that he couldn't give that smile back to her. Just like Juvia, Gajeel had grown more and more disillusioned over the years. What, he thought again, had those freaky bastards done to make her smile like that?

She pulled him down the street, heading for the newly built guild and chatting away about whatever she had been doing while away. He didn't listen. In fact the closer they got to the guild the louder his heart seemed to beat in his ears. He bit back a gulp as she hauled him through the door, his worry turning to a glower as he saw every eye in the room turn to them.

He was so dead. Arrogantly, or at least hoping to be, he crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his head back at them as if daring them to bring it on. He could handle this crowd, sure. His eyes flicked over them, appraising who would attack first and who would come from behind. There was that "manly" guy with the scar and the white hair. He would go first-

"Juvia-chan!" The cheerful old voice made him jerk, the color fleeing his face as he realized that Makarov had been sitting on the bar and he hadn't even noticed him. "You're a new face!"

"Hello, Master," Juvia said with a bright smile. "Juvia has come to join Fairy Tail-" She arched her back, showing off the gaudy as hell necklace she was wearing.

"What a surprise," Makarov said with a smile. "But who's that behind you?"

Juvia reached back, hauling Gajeel forward. "Gajeel would like to join as well."

"WHAT?" The word was said from every corner of the room. Half of the people there lunged forward, as if to attack. Before they could, Makarov grew to a gigantic size, slamming a wooden walking stick on the ground.

"Silence!" he bellowed. Shockingly, he got it. "Juvia-chan is welcome," he said with a cheerful leer. "Gajeel... I will talk to first," he went on, standing and heading at a jaunty little pace to one of the rooms in the back. He turned, motioning Gajeel forward. "Well, come on, then!"

If he died, Gajeel thought as he followed the old man, at least he would die with privacy. He stepped into the office, looking around the brightly colored, comfortable room with a hint of confusion. This was nothing like Master Jose's room had been. There weren't any massive tomes of magic piled on the tables, although he saw a few propping up various strange objects. There weren't any dark magic items, although a neglected glass ball sat in the corner collecting dust. It had a hat with cat ears on top of it.

"So," the old man said as he hopped into a massive fluffy chair. "Well, sit down, sit down," he ordered, motioning to the footstool in front of him. Gajeel crossed over, hesitantly sitting on the very fluffy footstool, his feet apart, his elbows resting on his knees. He was still taller than the old man when he sat like that. "We have a few things to discuss before I think about letting you into our guild, you know."

"You ah... would?" Gajeel asked, his shock showing.

"It's a parent's responsibility to guide a child," Makarov told him. "Master Jose didn't do a very good job, did he?"

Gajeel just looked at him blankly, wondering when the old man had cracked. Maybe he had always been this way?

"You know, there are a few guild rules in Fairy Tail. Some of them I never even have to mention to most of our members. Like Levy-chan, I doubt she even knows that it's an official rule. She doesn't need to," the old man went on when Gajeel didn't reply. "But in this guild no one can bring harm to the guild and its members intentionally. That is one of the reasons I will expel someone from the guild. People need to know they can trust their nakama to keep them safe as well as possible. What makes a strong guild are the bonds formed."

"So..." Gajeel said slowly. "I can't fight back."

"You're not quite understanding this," Makarov said. "We have our brawls, we have our random fistfights, but what you did to your own guild during the fight with Phantom, it won't happen here. In this guild the strong protect the weak, the weak support the strong. Everyone has some ability that makes them special, that makes them unique and valuable. When you come here, you won't be the top dog."

"You're stronger, I get it-"

"Not just me," Makarov said. "A few of my children are. But even if you're stronger than the others, you are still a member of Fairy Tail, just like they are. Even if you become an S-Class mage, you're still equal to the others. All that it means is you can do dirtier jobs than they do."

"But-"

"If you support my children," Makarov said, "I'll support you. If you care for my children, I'll care for you. Does any of this sink into that head of yours?" he asked, his hand shooting out an extra foot to tap Gajeel on the temple. "Don't tell me that the dark guilds haven't been trying to recruit you."

Gajeel went silent for a moment, looking down. "Ah," he said in agreement. "They have."

"Including Raven Tail," Makarov said. "You're just the type my son would go after."

"Your son?" Gajeel asked, jerking.

"My son," he agreed. "But before we get into that," he said, hopping out of his chair and heading for the door. "Mira-channn? Can you call Levy-chan for me?"

"Yes, Master," Mirajane called back. The room went silent as the two males waited for the little solid script mage to show up. Gajeel tried to think of who Levy-chan was, and what she had to do with his joining the guild.

Then she appeared, smiling like an angel before catching sight of Gajeel's face. She promptly stopped at the door, hiding everything except her head. The smell of fear radiated off of her. "Is there-is there something you want, Master Makarov?"

"Damn," Gajeel muttered. He was so well and utterly screwed. There was no way that the little blue haired girl he had attacked would let him in, and it looked like this would be up to her. He let out a sigh, mentally going over the various dark guild offers he had gotten to see which was most likely to get him a legitimate job. There weren't many. He had taken out several of their guilds-

"Levy-chan, Gajeel wants to join Fairy Tail. But I think you should have a say in this one. Do you think we should let him in?"

Gajeel looked at her, waiting for her to disagree, knowing that she would. Who would have thought that his entire future would hinge on this little slip of a mage?

"I-I don't mind," she said in a worried little voice. It jerked Gajeel, making him fall off of the footstool. He moved right back onto it before anyone could say anything.

"Thank you, Levy-chan, you can go now," Makarov said. Gajeel couldn't help but think how unsurprised the old man looked at her reply. He went on once Levy was gone, "You have your answer. Now we need to talk about Raven Tail."

Gajeel nodded a bit stupidly, so stunned by what had just happened that he found himself agreeing to the double spy job before he realized it.

The old man was tricksy, he decided as he was given his tattoo. Very, very tricksy.

That might have been when he started noticing Levy, Gajeel decided now as he looked over at Lily. Of course, it was hard not to notice her when she let out a little yelp and raced out of the room whenever he entered it. It was annoying, but every time she said she didn't mind, he felt guiltier and guiltier. She should have minded. He damn well would have minded.

So, she was the one he decided he would protect. As a fellow guild member. You know, since that was what the guild master had told him to do.

"Thinking about Levy again?" Lily asked.

"Huh?" Gajeel blustered. "Not really."

"Right, I believe that."


	10. Through the Storm & Directionless

Another two-for, since I wanted to do some Alzack/Bisca and tormenting Gajeel is a blast. Hope you enjoy these two!

And it's a Sunday release because I know they seem slower now that I'm juggling two fics at once. Also, I'm really fighting the image of Charle dragging Lily along to try and see what's going on with the exams. *shoves the story idea away from her* I bet she sneaks off to see it, but who knows if she's going to bring my favorite cat or not? *can't wait for the next chapter*

* * *

**Through the Storm**

**Characters: Pantherlily, Gajeel**

"Don't touch me," Pantherlily snarled, jerking away from the metal dragon as Gajeel reached for him. They were camping out on this mission because there were no hotels anywhere near them. Hunting down a monster tended to be that way. But that wasn't the problem.

"What the hell, man?" Gajeel asked, looking both stunned and offended by that response.

"Don't touch-" Lily's ears went back against his head as the thunder cracked overhead. He bared his teeth, hissing out of instinct as lightning lit up the tent. "Sharing a tent with a walking lightning rod, what am I, crazy?" he muttered, grabbing his pillow and hiding his head underneath it.

He didn't see how an evil grin was dramatically accented by another flash of light. But he did feel a finger run down his spine. His back arched and he let out a roar, twisting so the rest of his body was hidden under the pillow. "Stop that you sadistic bastard!" he bellowed.

Gajeel's laughter filled the tent and Lily dared to peek out long enough to give him a dirty look. He was about to hit him, but thunder rumbled so loudly that it seemed to shake the tent and he let out a yelp instead, burrowing under the pillow as much as he could. His tail wouldn't fit under, but he tried.

"Damn am I glad you weren't here to fight Luxus!" Gajeel hooted.

"Shuddup," Lily said in a muffled voice.

"Hell, it makes me want to hunt him down so you can meet him," Gajeel went on cheerfully. "Freakin' monster would have you carrying a pillow for the rest of your days."

The thunder boomed again, as if teaming up with the metal dragon to torment him. Lily muttered something dark and hard to understand, no longer even paying attention to what Gajeel said. It was only when the metal dragon cursed and grabbed both the pillow and the Exsheed that Lily freaked out.

"Let go, dammit!" he bellowed, shoving against Gajeel's chest as hard as he could to try and get free.

"Quit struggling, dammit!" Gajeel bellowed right back, his metal hard arms clamping around the cat. "While I try to tell you something!" he yelled as the thunder roared around them.

"Whatever you have to say can wait!" Lily bellowed back, twisting as hard as he could and kicking Gajeel in the face.

"I'm not a lightning rod!"

Lily went still. "Like hell you aren't!" he said, completely forgetting his fear in outrage over the ridiculous lie.

"If I'm not using my magic, I'm not a lightning rod," Gajeel said.

"With as many studs as you've got? Sure as hell look like one," Lily said, squirming free and hiding under his pillow once again.

"Who woulda thought," Gajeel said with a snort.

"Shuddup," Lily growled.

"I mean, seriously, lightning?"

"Thunder," Lily muttered, peeking childishly out from under the pillow. "Usually I found an excuse to go to my barracks."

"And hide under your pillow," Gajeel said, grinning evilly as he imagined the massive Exsheed on Edolas hiding under his pillow every time it stormed. "Lemme guess, you probably did something stupid, like rise in rank just so you could have your own room-" He stopped as Lily looked at him. "You did!" he howled. "I can't believe you did!"

"Shut it!" Lily snapped. "And if you ever tell anyone, I swear I'll-"

"Who am I going to tell?" Gajeel asked, still grinning. "Relax already." Which was made a mockery by thunder rumbling once again. Lily swore he did it on purpose. He wasn't sure how Gajeel was doing it on purpose, but he knew he was.

The thunder rumbled again and Lily pulled the pillow down tighter over his head. It was only because of his excellent hearing that he heard Gajeel start to sing.

"Colorful, colorful, shubdaba, the melody of blue metallic..."

And for once Lily didn't make fun of his singing. In fact, he found himself fighting the urge to crawl over to the metal dragon. This little body was far too easy for things like that. He didn't hide his vulnerabilities as well as he used to. He didn't fight being held, either. But maybe it was because it was Gajeel.

"Shubidoobop, shubidoobop."

"That song still makes no sense," he muttered, even as the thunder rumbled quietly. It didn't seem so close now. Not when Gajeel was being an idiot right in front of him.

"Don't mock the shubidoobop," Gajeel told him, reaching over and picking up the Exsheed and the pillow again. This time he turned them both so the pillow was between them.

"What are you doing now?" Lily demanded irritably.

"Insulation," Gajeel said roughly, keeping his hold and laying down. He started snoring as easily as that, leaving Lily lying on the pillow that lay on his chest. Deciding that it was too much work complaining about Gajeel's arms being just as metallic as the rest of his body, Lily let out a yawn.

He slept straight through the rest of the storm.

* * *

**Directionless**

**Characters: Gajeel, Alzack, Bisca**

They had gotten the latest episode of Sorcerer Magazine. At least, it was the one that featured everyone in Fairy Tail. Gajeel scowled, trying to ignore how every single person in the dining area seemed to be reading it. It was so crowded that even the table where he usually sat had those two cowboy people sitting there, awkwardly glancing at one another over the magazine.

He looked for another table. He looked for Lily, as well. He didn't see either. Reluctantly he headed for his table, sitting down as far away from the two as possible and waiting for his food to show up.

"You ah, like the south?" the male asked finally.

"You like the north?" the female asked, looking up. Gajeel couldn't figure out what was going on, because, seriously who cared? But both of them seemed to be traumatized in some manner. It was just his luck to be stuck listening to their drama. He scowled, looking around the room for a waitress so he could order his food, eat, and go.

"There's nothing wrong with the south," Al... something said, looking as if he was swallowing razor blades. "I mean, it's very nice to the south."

"I-I was just thinking the same about the north," the girl-Biscuit? said. "I've always thought it was very pretty to the north, too."

"Yeah," Al said, looking at the magazine again. His face was turning red, Gajeel noticed with interest. Then he promptly cursed himself as Al caught him looking and latched onto him. "Gajeel, what-which do you prefer? The north or the south?"

"I don't care," Gajeel said, irritated for getting dragged into such a stupid conversation. Where the hell was that waitress? Better yet, where the hell was his cat?

"You like it here, best?" Biscuit asked. Seriously, though, who would name their kid Biscuit? He pondered that question for a few seconds, wondering if he might have gotten her name wrong, after all. "It isn't bad here," she said.

"Yeah, yeah, it's not too bad," Al said eagerly. "I mean, we've been here for a little while, right? And there's plenty of things to do-"

"But it's awfully pretty to the south," Biscuit (maybe her parents were bakers?) said a bit sadly.

"There's some great land to the north," Al said in almost the same tone.

"Then why don't you go north and you go south?" Gajeel said, getting irritated with the conversation. Why did he get dragged into things like this? "Oye!" he called over as he caught sight of the blue cat, "have you seen Lily? Where's my cat?"

"Lily's with Erza!" the blue cat called back.

"Dammit!" Gajeel snarled, irritated with life by this point. He had forgotten that Lily and Erza had gotten into one of those stupid "my blade is better than yours is" arguments earlier. And he couldn't go get the cat, because he was probably up at the girls' dorm. There was no way Gajeel was going anywhere near that place.

"We... we could do that," Biscuit said, looking even more depressed than when she had been talking about the south being pretty.

"Yeah... but..."

"Oh for-" Gajeel looked at them both, shoving himself to his feet. "Go east and stop bothering me already!" He stormed away, leaving them both shell-shocked for a moment.

"Well... there is some very pretty land to the east," Bisca said after a long moment.

"And we can always visit the other places!" Alzack said, cheering up. "You know, if we-if we went, that is."

"Right, that's right," Bisca agreed. "Gajeel's not as bad as I thought he was, don't you think?"

"You don't-ah-like him, do you?" Alzack asked, growing worried.

"No! I just thought he gave us a real hand-not that-I mean-" She was bright red by this point and hid her face in the magazine. "He just had surprisingly good advice?" she offered, her voice muffled behind the pages.

"Oh, right, right, good advice. It's good to get good advice," Alzack agreed. Inwardly, though, both were already picturing a beautiful little ranch house to the east, with white picket fences.

Not much later, everyone at Fairy Hills was shocked to find Gajeel sitting outside of the dorm, complaining to himself about biscuits and directions for no apparent reason.


	11. Bully for You

Yet another one of those "I gotta write about this!" scenes. All of Gajeel's picking on Levy during this new arc kills me, so I thought I'd write about what she thinks of it. This takes place during the week before the exams. Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

**Bully for You**

**Characters: Pantherlily, Levy**

"He just..." Levy looked back and forth, as if expecting the subject of her discussion to appear at any moment. It wasn't paranoia, it was a fact of life. "He keeps bullying me," she told Pantherlily quietly. They were sitting in the dining area of the guild, waiting for the problem himself to show up. Two days had passed since the partners had been decided and the teams started working together. She felt more confident with Gajeel as her partner, and he hadn't done anything to hurt her in the least, although she was pretty sure the six hour marathon could be considered abuse. Except he had let her wear shorts and a bikini top while he wore his entire (extremely heavy) outfit and carried his bag. She had once tried picking that bag up and her arms had threatened to fall off.

"He's a bully," Lily said, agreeing far more easily than she had expected him to. "Especially if he doesn't like someone. I bet you have some serious scars from these past days, huh?"

"What?" Levy asked blankly. "You mean he doesn't-I don't have any scars!" she yelped, her mind going through several things at once. "It doesn't hurt! He just picks me up by strange parts of my clothing, or uses me as an arm rest or-"

Lily nodded, having been watching the entire training routine between his own missions. He hadn't taken anything big, since he didn't want to be gone when the two set out, but he figured it was a good time to get to know the area. "Yeah, that sounds like some serious bullying," he agreed. "His arm's really heavy, isn't it," he added knowingly.

"It is!" she said. "It weighs way more than any arm should!"

"Probably hard to carry that all day long," Lily said with a nod.

"It can be!"

"Must be nice to have such a perfect height to rest it on," he finished.

She stared at him before she started laughing, unable to help herself. "You set me up!" she complained, still giggling. "You're just as big a bully as he is!"

He smirked, satisfied that he had made her laugh. "He bullies me, too, if it makes you feel better."

"Never!" she said, honestly shocked.

"The important thing is to not rise to the bait," he told her. "It's better to ignore him or he'll just get worse, then next thing you know he'll be carrying you around asking people if you look like a teddy bear."

She choked, looking away quickly as she tried not to laugh again. "Sorry," she said a bit breathlessly a few seconds later. "I just-I mean-I-sorry!" she added again, giggling like a little girl. "Really, I am, it's not-it's not funny-but I can see him doing that to me-" She burst into laughter. "But!" she said once she got her breath back, "it's so obvious that he thinks you're the most awesome guy in the guild."

"Yeah, he does," Lily said with a nod, not even pretending to be modest about the open love of his partner. "But he still bullies me. So now we have to figure out why that is," he told her. Although he could think of a few reasons off the top of his head, it interested him to see what she thought.

"Because he thought you'd beat someone up if they called you a teddy bear?" she offered.

"That, too," he conceded. "But that's not the only time he's picked on me," he added, thinking silently of the thunderstorm. He had taken an entire morning to get over that one. That was a long time of ignoring the metal dragon in both of their books.

"Does he use you as an arm rest, too?" she asked sympathetically.

"I'm not tall enough in this form, and I'm too tall in my other one," he said.

"That's true," she said. "So what other reason does he have for bullying you? He doesn't-he doesn't hurt you, does he?" she asked, looking stunned by the very idea.

"Nah, he doesn't hurt me," Lily said. "Of course I'm tougher than you are in my other form," he added in self-defense. "But there's no changing the fact that he likes to torment people, even, maybe especially, the ones he likes," he added.

"So I just have to deal with it, is that what you're saying?" she said, sighing. "It's okay when we're alone, but it can be embarrassing in public!" she complained. "He carried me two blocks by the back of my shorts the other day," she added, flushing as she remembered the amused looks they had gotten.

"Yeah? Why?"

"Because-" She stopped, her eyes widening slightly. "I was complaining about how I'll never beat Happy and Natsu if it was a race."

"So he picked you up and carried you in an embarrassing way," Lily finished.

"He's punishing me, isn't he," she said.

"Possibly," Lily told her. "But he is a sadist, he might enjoy carrying a cute girl by the shorts just as easily."

"Lily!" she protested, blushing as she fought another laugh. "You shouldn't talk about your partner that way!"

"For a bit, he's your partner, not mine," Lily told her cheerfully. The look of guilt on her face had him rolling his eyes. "Don't worry, I'll take him back once the exams are over."

"You're... you're going to be okay while we're gone, right?" she asked.

"Sure, hell, maybe I'll talk to your two pals," he said, glancing over at where the two were sobbing into their beers. Cries of "Levy, whyyy!" came once in a while between wails. "Or not, I'm not a masochist, you know."

"Oh, they'll be fine," Levy said, waving off Jet and Droy. "It's you that's not been here long, and here I am taking your best friend-"

"It's fine, might do him some good," he said, waving it off. "I'll pick up a few small missions, maybe go check on how the Exsheed are doing moving in. And with Gajeel not around I might actually get to know all of the other guild members. I swear some of them still run whenever he walks into the room."

"Um, actually, they do," Levy admitted sheepishly. "Not many of them! We're tough! But a few of the more shy ones do."

He nodded, looking quite comfortable with that fact. "Do you trust him to get you through this exam?" he asked her. The look of surprise on her face answered his question for him.

"Of course," she said. "Why wouldn't I?

"Even if he'll bully you through the whole thing?"

"Ooooh," she said. "That. Well I'll try and keep positive and maybe he'll have less excuses to do it," she said, waving it off. "I actually," she hesitated, a tiny smile pulling at her lips, "I actually almost feel like there's a chance, you know? I never, ever thought that even if I got the chance I would win. But now... there's a chance, don't you think?"

"I'd say there's a good chance," he agreed. "But not just because of Gajeel. You're a good mage in your own right. Why else would the master have picked you?"

She gave him a shy, adorable smile and he was positive he knew the reason Gajeel bullied her. "Thanks," she said.

"You're welcome," he told her. "Thanks for taking care of my partner."

"Me-but I-I mean, I'm the one that's probably going to be taken care of," she said. "I should thank you for loaning him to me," she added.

"You're underestimating yourself again," Lily warned her.

"Oh, right, right," she said. "Thank goodness Gajeel isn't here, I don't want another pair of shorts stretched out!"

Lily just smirked slightly, glancing behind her back at where the metal dragon stood in the shadows. He'd been standing there since shortly after the conversation started. But Pantherlily wouldn't tell Levy.

Partner loyalty was important, after all.


	12. Thinking Problems

Okay, this one is partially, if not all, complete crack. I'm sorry. Seriously, seriously sorry. Especially to the Levy fans out there. I adore Levy, but this was too funny to pass up. This is dedicated to a random poster on a random thread discussing Gajeel/Levy's relationship, who said it was cute because he's so awkwardly trying to make up for what he did in the past all the time. Once I read it, I knew I had to write about it^^ Hope they don't mind!

* * *

**Thinking Problems**

**Characters: Lily, Max, Gajeel, Levy**

**_Too Much_**

The thing was, Lily thought as he watched the ship sail off into the distance, he had torn feelings about his new lifestyle. No, that was a lie. He knew exactly how he felt about his new lifestyle, but the problem was how he felt about how he felt-man, that was really making things convoluted, wasn't it?

He frowned slightly, leaning back against the box behind him. He had watched his new partner leave, his arms crossed over his chest, a slight smirk on his face. He hadn't bothered to wave, but neither had Gajeel. They hadn't spent the night before talking about how they would miss each other, hadn't promised to write, or any of that bull. Hell, they had gone out to the public bath and drank milk afterward, as if it were any other night. That was good, he decided. That was how it was supposed to be.

He was also getting off the subject, wasn't he?

He liked his new life. No, that was too weak of a word for it. He loved his new life. It was a blast. Once he had gotten used to how noisy the guild was, how crass his partner was, and how he now had to jump to sit on benches, he had grown to enjoy it thoroughly. Part of the reason was because he wasn't a freak anymore. The new, normal sized body... it was awesome. Sure it had its drawbacks, such as shelves and door handles, but on the other hand, if he went to the Exsheed clan he wouldn't even stand out! He was no longer the freak of the species.

The job change was another reason for his happiness-teaching kids, knocking the crap out of thieves and bandits, hunting down monsters? That was way better than doing drills day in and day out. Being a soldier was all well and good if you didn't mind monotony when there wasn't a war going on. Or if you didn't mind the sneaking suspicion that your king was slowly growing crazier and crazier by the day.

But the reason he loved his new life the most, he thought with a hint of irritation, was because of his new partner. Irritation with himself made his smirk turn to a frown. There, he admitted, there was his main source of conflict. Their relationship messed with his head whenever he started to think about it. Seriously, it wasn't just that of normal partners. He had had partners before during his life on Edolas, they got the work done and went their own ways. That was how partners were supposed to work, as far as he could tell.

Gajeel and he went their own way, not ways. He lived with the guy, he ate with the guy, hell, he even slept in the same room as the guy (and was often used as a teddy bear, dammit, but he really didn't want to get into that.) And the thing was-the thing was, he went on in frustration-that as good as made him a pet, right?

So why was he so happy about where he was? It wasn't as if Gajeel was the greatest guy on Earthland, either. He was a pain in the ass more often than not, really. He was stubborn and crass and liked to start fights at the drop of a hat. He was lousy with people. This little exam was probably the closest Gajeel had ever had to a date in his life, Lily decided. It was probably his idea of showing a girl a great time, too, he thought with a snort. The snort turned into a cough, which rapidly degraded into laughter, because it was so true.

Several of the mages that had come to see the group off glanced at him with hints of worried amusement, but he didn't bother to explain. He waved it off when someone started to ask him if he was alright. "It's fine," he said with a crooked grin. "Don't worry about it," he added, shoving away from the box and starting back to the guild.

Like he would explain to them, he thought with amusement. Like he could. "Wait!" the guild member said, chasing after him. Lily glanced up, placing a name with the face. Max, he realized, the sand guy that talked a lot. He looked surprisingly serious as he stepped in front of the Exsheed. "You're Gajeel's best friend."

Lily jerked, a bit shocked by that statement. He had never even thought of it that way, not from Gajeel's perspective. "Yeah?" he said, not about to admit what he had just been thinking.

"That means you know him a lot more than the rest of the guild does. Levy-" Max stopped, looking around. "Here, let's go in here and talk about it," he said, heading for a nearby cafe. Lily followed silently, figuring that the sand mage was going to threaten him in Gajeel's stead. He wondered at the guy's timing, though. If he were using a hostage he would make sure the blackmailed knew about it first-

Max sat down, giving Lily time to sit down across from him. "Levy's one of the best things in Fairy Tail," he told the Exsheed, a worried look on his face. "We couldn't really say anything when Gajeel offered to help, because he's her best bet, but-"

"But while you like his strength you can't stand his personality," Lily summed up for him. "And you can't stop him, because of the exact same thing," he added. "So you come to me for reassurance because I'm the guy that can."

He was becoming as much of an asshole as his partner was, Lily thought as Max tried to come up with a reply. He let the other male stutter for a moment before raising a hand. "He made her small once," Lily told the man. "They both knew it when he offered to make her big. He almost killed her," he went on. "They both knew it when he saved her life a few times. Of all the people in the guild, including Levy and her partners, who do you think is most obsessed with what he did to her back then?"

Max stared at him, his mouth moving but no words coming out. Finally he scowled, nodding slightly. "I didn't think about that," he admitted.

"Yeah, not many people do," Lily said. "But I spend all my time with the guy."

"How?" Max asked. "How do you do it? How do you put up with a guy like that all the time? If it's because he beat you at one time, well, he's beaten most of us back in the fight with Phantom. That's not a reason to stick around him all the time! You should leave him. Right now's the best time to do it, even, since he's going to be gone for a while. It'll give you a nice head start-"

"Leave him?" Lily repeated. "You think I should leave him?"

"It can't be easy dealing with a guy like that-"

"How would you know?" Lily asked, biting back a snarl. This was getting very close to pissing him off all of a sudden. "When have you dealt with him? I've never seen you even talk to him. You know what? I've only seen a handful of people in the entire guild talk to him, yet you're all still intent on saying that he can't be dealt with. Sure he's an ass, but he's straightforward about it. And you said I was Gajeel's best friend, well, what kind of best friend would I be if I listened to this?"

He stood, irritated with the fact that hopping off a chair really didn't make the right sort of impact as storming out in his old form would have. "Wait," Max said quietly. Lily jerked to a halt. "I shouldn't have said that," the sand mage went on. "Sorry. I was just worried about a friend. I don't-" He went silent for a moment as Lily turned back to him. "I didn't have many when I was a kid. At all. Now that I've got the guild, though-"

"You want to protect the ones you have now," Lily offered.

"Yeah."

"Well then, think of it this way," the Exsheed said. "Gajeel has the exact same problem." He sighed. "For one time of making her small, he'll make her big a million times," he said quietly. "And he'll probably still keep going, because he'll never be able to say the words."

"The words?" Max repeated.

"'I'm sorry,'" Lily answered. "He'll never say those words. Not about something like that, because he figures they don't mean anything. Don't worry. Even if he's fighting any and all of the S-class fighters in your entire guild, he won't let her get hurt. I have faith in my partner," he went on, realizing abruptly that this was the answer he had been searching for earlier. "You should, too."

"I hope you're right," Max said.

"I am," Lily replied. "Trust me on this." He wasn't a pet, he realized as he walked away. A pet wasn't expected to watch the other's back. A pet never had to justify his owner. A pet, while he might guard his owner through blind loyalty, never tried to understand why the owner did what he did. No, he was much more than a pet. He was a best friend. And maybe, he realized, maybe on this planet being a "partner" meant more than it had on his old one.

* * *

**_Too Little_**

He missed his cat. It sort of pissed him off that Salamander was chatting-no, that was definitely puking noises. Okay, so he wasn't nearly as pissed off as he could have been. In fact, if it weren't so damn hot, he would have been enjoying himself thoroughly, except for the cat thing, that was. He had food (which he was too hot to eat, dammit!) he had an entire deck of scantily dressed, extremely hot babes to watch, (you got to admit, that was definitely one thing that Fairy Tail had which Phantom never had. Their females were smoking hot!), the promise of a brutal exam (complete with his Levy to haul around), and he had the pleasure of watching the Salamander act like a complete and utter weakling.

But he missed his Lily. If Lily were there he would have someone to talk to, that is, if he felt up to talking. He sighed, resting his chin on his fist and wondering what the cat was doing at the moment. Lily had told him he was going to take a few small missions around Magnolia, which was fine. Their apartment was paid off for the month and they had enough cash in the jar for the cat to eat whatever he wanted. Buying beer might be a pain in the ass, he realized, remembering that their fridge was still empty, but he could get it at the guild.

He sounded like an anxious parent, he realized with disgust. That was pathetic. He glanced over at the table of girls, watching the little sky dragon for a second and wondering if she had the same problem as he was having. Probably worse, he decided. She had been with her cat for years, right?

But her cat wasn't as likely to be ganged up on as his was. Then again... a little grin tried to pull at his lips, he hoped they did gang up on Lily. A bit of a smack down would do the bastards good! It was obvious that his cat could easily take them all on, if you asked him. All of the weaklings had been left behind, while all the strong ones were either on the island they were heading to, or on the ship.

With that satisfying thought he stopped worrying about his cat and remembered just how damn hot it was. Even his meal looked like it would burn to the touch. He poked it, just to see. Yeah, that was hot.

Dammit, he missed his cat.

* * *

**_Too Wrong_**

Did Gajeel just check out Lucy? Levy frowned, glancing over at her partner again just to make sure she had been imagining things. No, now he was staring out at the water with a slight frown on his face. Maybe she had imagined it. Then again, she thought rationally, it would be better if he checked Lucy out instead of Gray. At least, she thought it would be better.

Maybe it wouldn't, she went on silently, her mind going to a scene that made her cheeks turn red with embarrassment and amusement. Then again, she didn't really see Gajeel as that type, she decided, pondering the subject far more than she would have ever admitted. If he were that type he would have picked someone other than a cat to be his partner, right?

But he could have picked a girl, as well. She bet Juvia would have worked with him, if necessary. Then again, if the idea of Gajeel checking Lucy out had surprised her, the thought of him seeing Juvia as anything other than nakama was mind-blowing. She barely ever saw them talking, and there were definitely no hot and bothered looks anywhere near the conversations.

Well, either way, she was safe, she decided. If he was (and she had no proof, just her instincts) checking out a well developed female like Lucy, he would never think anything about her. Why was that thought disappointing? She almost slapped herself for the way her stomach plummeted at it. She had been trying to make a point! That point being she would be perfectly safe during whatever happened in the exams, no matter if they were stuck together for a night or anything!

Okay, she had just managed to bum herself out completely, and she wasn't about to acknowledge why before they started the exams and she really was stuck on an island alone for an entire night with the iron dragon.

Uh oh, she thought, feeling someone watching her. She glanced up, realizing that Gajeel was staring at her curiously. Maybe he had just realized what she had realized and was wishing he had picked a different partner, like Cana-she glanced over at the other female before looking back at Gajeel-no, now he was poking the metal on his plate. He didn't look nervous, but he wasn't eating. Levy really, really wished she knew what he was thinking. Did he have a thing for Lucy? Was he comparing Levy to the other girl and finding her wanting? And did he-did he just sigh? That answered her question! He definitely found her lacking in the-the curves department!

Oh, she wished they would get to the island already!


	13. Pink

This one gave me a bit of naming trouble. I had a few different things I could call it, but somehow the image of Gajeel singing Aerosmith's Pink got stuck in my head and the title was found. Maybe it's the harmonica, or the mouth, or maybe it's the fedora. (But honestly, we all know he's more of a "blue" guy than a "pink" I'm just mean like that.) Unfortunately he doesn't actually sing in this one, but it's still entertaining! And Levy gets the most attention in this one, since I got some positive comments on my Levy-centric scenes. I figure she needs some love.

And, like the last one, this could conceivably be called crack. You've been warned.

* * *

**Pink**

**Characters: Levy, Gajeel, Pantherlily**

She really, really should have never looked at that manga, Levy thought as she walked down the street. It was fluff, brainless, mind-numbing fluff. And it was addicting. She sighed, cursing herself for sitting in the library for several hours reading an entire set of manga about a sweet little girl and the local yankee. Maybe it was because it reminded her of Lucy and Natsu? It couldn't have been anything else-she jerked to a halt as she saw Gajeel and Pantherlily lurking outside of the guild. For a moment she could almost picture them both dressed in long white trench coats with writing on the backs-

"Oye," Gajeel said, jerking her out of that strange daydream. It had been ridiculous, after all, he didn't have that gigantic hairdo like the guy in the manga... or eyebrows, for that matter, not even the narrow eyebrows like the guys in the manga. And he was wearing a dark red rag tied over his head. It just brought her attention to the eyebrow thing again.

"What happened to your eyebrows?" she asked without thinking. His eyes widened for a second, surprised by the question.

"What eyebrows?" he asked.

"That's what I just asked?" she offered.

"Where the hell have you been all day?" he asked instead. "Lily wants to ask you something." The Exsheed shot him a dirty look, but took over easily enough.

"Gajeel and I have a little... problem," he said. "We have a 'friend' that's been tagging our house."

"A friend?" she asked. "Tagging? What are you talking about?"

"Some jackass has been putting runes on our apartment door," Gajeel muttered. "It's irritating. Little, annoying things like making it so the door won't open without a password-"

"Or Gajeel knocking it in," Lily offered.

"Or one time it made everything in the house smell like fish," Gajeel said. "Couldn't get that blue cat out of the apartment for hours."

She looked away, her shoulders shaking slightly. "She's laughing at us," Lily told Gajeel.

"She's laughing at us," Gajeel agreed. "Which means she has to do it." He stood up, grabbing her by the back of her shorts and picking her up.

"No! Put me down, I wasn't-I wasn't laughing!" she protested, squirming as he carried her down the street.

"Sure you weren't laughing," Lily said, walking along beside them. "You probably know who did it, don't you?"

"Well, it depends on how many enemies you have who know where you live," she said. "Let me walk? Please?" she asked, kicking her legs. He put her down, but kept hold of her arm to make sure she didn't run away. She glanced up at him, earning a dark look.

"I ain't got that many enemies," he muttered. "Least... not ones smart enough to use that writing stuff you do," he added. "Only two people I can think of that can do that sort of shit. You do it?" he asked her.

"I did not!" she said, offended. "I don't do rune magic, either, I do solid script. I can rewrite runes, but I don't write them!"

"Then it's that green-haired freak. Wha'd I do to piss him off?" Gajeel asked Lily curiously, still not letting go of Levy's arm.

"Who haven't you pissed off?" Lily asked him.

"How can you not know who's doing it?" Levy asked. "You've got that super sense of smell, right?"

"Oh, we know who's done it," Lily said. "But it's never the same person twice, and well... Gajeel can't do anything about them."

"Wh-what?"

"They're kids," Gajeel muttered, flushing slightly. "We can't knock out kids."

"Awww, poor Gajeel," she said. "Why don't you just scare them?" she asked.

"First break the ward," Gajeel said, pulling to a stop in front of a hole in the wall apartment building and pushing her forward. She looked at the ward written in front of the door for a long moment before pulling out her magical pen. It disappeared a second later.

"That was the strangest ward I've ever seen," she said. "Why would anyone want to give someone pink hair?" She stopped, looking at him, her eyes widening. "This was Fried's rune, but I really doubt he did it for his own sake. Maybe someone hired him?"

"Yeah, that's what I figured," Gajeel said as he headed inside.

"Hey, how did you know what it would do?" she asked the two. Lily looked up then glanced over at Gajeel, who muttered something dark and pulled off the hair rag, showing the pink hair it had hidden. He must have only taken a step through the door before stopping, saving the long locks that hung down his back.

"Luckily we stopped before I went in," Lily said evilly.

"I look stupid, don't I?" Gajeel muttered, so obviously off-balance about the situation that she couldn't help the grin that pulled at her lips.

"Actually, you pull it off a lot better than I thought you would," she said with a smile. "But I think I have an idea of who's doing this."

"Who do you think is doing it?" Gajeel asked.

"First, let's go find those kids that put the runes up," she said, turning and heading back down the street.

"Wrong way," he said, grabbing her by the back of the shirt and turning her around. "They're this way."

"Oye, you might want to put this back on," Lily said, holding up the red piece of cloth.

"It's still pink?" Gajeel demanded.

"It might take a bit for the runes to wear off," Levy said. "But I think it's cute," she added even as he shoved the cloth back down over his head. He looked even cuter when he was pouting, she decided. Who would have thought it? Gajeel, cute.

She really had to lay off the manga. Like, swear it off completely, she decided as he hauled her down the street. These were all those "tells" in stories that led to the bad boy winding up confessing to the good girl, and a supposed happy ending, which she wasn't looking for, because life didn't give you things like that-especially not with guys like Gajeel!

"There's one," Gajeel said, pulling to a stop and pointing out a little girl with a gigantic sucker. She looked all of six, at most. It was pretty obvious why he couldn't do anything to her. "Whoever's doin' this is getting my fist shoved up his nose," Gajeel muttered.

"His nose?" she repeated.

"Lily says it's the better choice."

She didn't bother to ask for an explanation on that one. But she did glance down at the Exsheed, who had a very knowing look on his face and nodded at her. Sometimes she really wondered how he and Happy could be the same species. They were on two completely different levels of thought.

"Why don't we go ask her?" she said, heading for the little girl, now the one hauling Gajeel around. "Hi, sweetie," she said. "We have a question to ask you."

"Mommy says I shouldn't talk to strangers," the girl said around a mouthful of sucker.

"Well, then I'm Levy, and this is Gajeel and Pantherlily. We're members of Fairy Tail. You've heard of Fairy Tail, right?"

The girl nodded, her eyes large. "I wanna see your marks," she told them.

"Cynical, isn't she?" Gajeel drawled, turning so his shoulder was showing. Levy turned, pulling her shirt down so her mark was clearly visible, and Lily turned to show his back. "There, now can we get our answers?"

"Sweetie, can you tell us if you've ever been sent with a piece of paper with funny writing on it to an apartment building down the street?"

"Oh, yeah," she said. "That's how I got this sucker."

"Can you tell me who gave you the sucker?"

"He-"

* * *

Gajeel grabbed Natsu by the scarf, slamming him into the wall. "You ass!" he roared. "My hair's still pink!"

Natsu started dying with laughter, reaching up and tugging the cloth that hid the pink hair away so everyone could admire it. "It looks good on you!" the fire dragon hooted. They broke into a fight, which was quickly joined by Gray and Elfman, then spread through the rest of the guild members, leaving Levy to sit at one of the uninvolved tables, sighing slightly as she watched. Lily pulled himself onto the bench next to her, watching for a moment as well before smirking up at her.

"It's a good thing you know something about runes," he said. "Otherwise he'd probably have gone through life with a rag on his head."

"There are other mages here that can deal with runes!" she protested.

"Not ones he trusts." She couldn't help the flush that crept into her cheeks, or the hint of pride that struck her at his words. It wasn't the romantic ending that the manga had always delivered, she thought, but somehow those four words were far more satisfying.


	14. Moments

This one is Lily and Levy-centric, since I already showed Gajeel's life changing moment earlier^^ And I'd like to thank you again (or for the first time, if I haven't already) for enjoying my one-shots^^ I'm just goofing off with them, honestly, and I'm a Gajeel/Levy fangirl, so I thought I'd share my entertainment with fellow fans! Maybe it'd get some more writers interested in the pairing, right? Then I'd be able to slack and let all you fabulous writers do the hard work for me!

Uh oh, I just revealed my nefarious plot, didn't I? ... Pretend you didn't see that, kay?

BTW, my back fill of stuff is empty with this one, so updates might be slow from now on, or I might be done, I'm not sure. We'll see!

* * *

**Half an Hour**

**Characters: Lily**

The longest moment in his life was barely half an hour long.

Pantherlily took longer than the other Exceed to realize what had happened. In fact, that made sense because he was the only one affected so drastically. He slowly forced himself to sit up, his eyes swirling slightly as he looked around. The world seemed different. It also seemed a lot bigger. For a moment he stared down at his own tiny body, wondering what in the hell he was looking at.

Then he remembered. Everything came rushing over him, fragments of memories, the fight with the iron dragon, the disappearance of the lachrima crystal, the falling islands-he remembered watching with horror as all the magic left their world. And most importantly, he remembered watching the iron dragon destroy buildings along with his fellow dragon slayers, claiming to be the enemies of the world, just to help the prince.

He needed to leave. He pushed himself to his feet, awkwardly trying to gain his balance. His tail went out, stabilizing him. The new body was awkward, clumsy. Where he had once had muscles and height he had... a lot of air.

He had to get out of there before the others found him. It would be easy, he thought as he took his first step, cursing and adjusting his gate to the new form. If he stayed... He went still, his ears twitching as he heard someone in the bushes. If he stayed, he went on as he slid into a more comfortable gate, shifting so he blended with the shadows, he would have to deal with the iron dragon again.

There was no way he could defeat him in this form. He slipped further into the shadows, his eyes on the girl that was sitting there. White hair, Edolas clothing-how could an Edolas human come here?

Wait, he told himself, pulling to a stop. This had nothing to do with him! He was escaping before they caught him! If they caught him-if they caught him he would be... he stopped, his mind flashing over the conversation with the iron dragon. His cat? his mind supplied, going straight to the weird statement that the iron dragon had said in the middle of the fight. What the hell did that mean? Like a pet? The human girl was getting up, as if she knew something he didn't. Somehow she had snuck through the anima. She was possibly dangerous to everyone. Perhaps she planned on stealing the magic back-

Without a thought he requipped a rope, slipping under the shadows and tackling her to the ground so he could tie her up. "What-what are you doing?" she asked.

"Silence," he snarled, placing a paw over her mouth.

What was he doing? His ears twitched as he heard the humans landing behind him. The arguments started, the Exceed fighting amongst themselves, the explanation for the little white cat. He heard it all, his grip on the little white haired female keeping her from speaking. He needed to leave, he told himself. He had to leave now, or-

Would they even notice he wasn't there? He was still an exile, even more so than before. He had betrayed his kingdom as well as his own people. They wouldn't even notice if he disappeared into this new world-

"Where's Lily?"

The tone wasn't that of someone looking for an end of a fight. It was a tone he had never really heard when someone said his name. It was the panicked tone of someone who wanted him there, who was terrified that he hadn't made it. It was-scarier than hell, considering who was saying it, but still-

"I don't see Pantherlily anywhere!" the iron dragon went on.

This was the time to run. But... to what? He looked down at the girl he was holding captive, then back towards the iron dragon. He would never take the cowardly way out, not when there was someone that said his name like that. And besides, they needed to know about her. In case she was a danger. (Which even as he thought it, he realized it was an excuse. But it was a good one!)

He stepped into his future. "If you're looking for me," he said. "I'm over here."

* * *

**A Few Seconds**

**Character: Levy**

The moment her life changed only lasted a few seconds, but it took a few minutes to sink in. In fact, Gajeel was already walking away before she had figured out what had happened. Her heart was still pounding in her chest as Jet and Droy went to her, making sure she wasn't hurt.

That was ridiculous, she thought. Of course she wasn't hurt, but the one that had been hurt had just walked away-limped away, she thought, and they had done nothing about it whatsoever. Of course it was hard to do anything about Gajeel. It was more likely that Gajeel would do something about you a lot sooner than you could even think of something to do about him. He was like a storm, just like Natsu.

Levy headed into her room, absently picking up a pile of books from a chair and setting them aside. Her knees went out and she fell into her chair, finally letting go of the stress that had filled her. She could have died. Levy was no match for Luxus! Just that one bolt of lightening would have killed her before she even realized it was coming!

How could Gajeel have crossed that long distance and blocked the shot? It was beyond her comprehension. Gajeel had already taken damage from Jet and Droy's attacks, yet he could easily move like that. It was horrifying. But she had known how much stronger he was than Shadow Gear to begin with, she thought as her eyes closed. Again, the lightening flashed before her eyes, the smell of hot metal and blood trapped in her mind, clinging invisibly to her body. She couldn't forget that smell.

Her hand hesitated before going down, touching the spot on her stomach where the phantom mark once was. He scared her. There was no question about that, it was obvious to everyone. Several people had asked her if she was okay once Gajeel joined the guild. They moved, discreetly, keeping between her and the iron dragon, even though everyone knew that they wouldn't be able to stop him if he went on another rampage.

But he had stepped between her and Luxus, just like they stepped between him and her. The one everyone tried to protect her from, protected her. The one everyone feared would kill them when they weren't looking had taken their beating without a word, without a single attempt at defending himself.

It... it almost irritated her, she realized, her big brown eyes widening as she figured out what the strange sensation in her gut was. She was-she was mad at him! Sure he wanted to prove that he was nakama, but that didn't mean he took everything that everyone dealt him! Being kinder was one thing-she wanted him to be kinder, but to be a doormat?

But if he fought back, her mind whispered, playing devil's advocate, if he fought back would the others be able to handle it? Wasn't it better that he just took the beatings, the bullying?

"Of course it's not!" she said, standing abruptly, her anger reaching its peak. She flushed as she realized she had yelled at an empty room. She took a deep breath and sat down, fighting the urge to pace. But did she have the right to say anything to him about it-of course she did, she thought with determination. If anyone had the right to tell him to stand up for himself, it was her!

But before she could do that, she told herself, she had to quit cowering like a little girl at the sight of him. When he came back, she told herself, she wouldn't run, she would stay in the room right where she had been. Then when she needed to talk to him, she would look him straight in the eyes and talk to him.

And maybe, just maybe, she would get the chance to tell him that he should defend himself, just like he had defended her. Until then, Levy decided, she would have to defend him, herself. She might not be able to block lightening, but she could tell people not to attack him!

With that decision made she felt far lighter than she had since Gajeel had attacked her. It felt good!


	15. Full Moon Sake II

I've changed how I spell Exsheed to Exceed, hope it doesn't bother anyone. And I found myself working on a full length story, again, which I'm trying to finish up before I start posting, but it shouldn't take much longer! There is an absolutely adorable moment at the end of this one, it's not even a filler, so look forward to it! This is the only "Me and My Cat" chapter I've written lately, so don't be surprised if this fic goes quiet for a while after this. I promise you'll forgive me with my next fic!

* * *

**Full Moon Sake II**

**Characters: Gajeel, Gildartz, Lily, Levy**

Somehow Gajeel and Lily found themselves sitting out on blankets behind the guild, cups of sake in their hands. The full moon shone off of the metal playground and bounced off of the liquid in the cups.

This, unlike their last conversation under the full moon, was not just them. The old guy that tended to destroy things as he walked sat next to them, a gigantic bottle of sake in one hand, an old fashioned sake cup in the other. A few others of the guild had already passed out around them, or were working their way there. Gajeel held out his cup as Gildartz waved the bottle, letting him top it off.

"Nice night for sake, don't you think?" Gildartz asked, pouring Lily another cup as well.

"Ah," Gajeel agreed as he sipped his drink. He knew there was a reason for the older man to be sitting next to him, he just hadn't figured it out yet. It was possible that this was going to be a subtle warning speech, or an outright threat. If anyone could back up a threat, he figured it was this man. But he was taking his sweet time about it.

"You're a dragon's child," Gildartz said.

"Yeah, and?" Gajeel asked.

"I just wonder, sometimes, what goes through your heads," the older man said, waving his cup slightly. "Then again, I probably should wonder what goes through mine." He finished off his cup, looking at the moon for a long moment. "I expected to come back and find Natsu and Lissana dating, you know. I figured it would calm him down a bit, set him straight."

"That white haired chick?" Gajeel asked. He honestly hadn't thought much about the girl one way or the other, except when she seemed to be making fun of his cat. "With the Salamander? Isn't he with the bunny girl?" he asked Lily.

"I don't think so," Lily said. "But who knows?"

"He's dating a bunny?" Gildartz asked.

"Who knows? Who cares?" Gajeel asked. "Idiot's so dense he probably hasn't figured it out, himself." He held out his cup, accepting another refill. The good thing about Lily was that although the cat couldn't hold his liquor, he was easy enough to carry home, he decided as he saw Lily's eyes threaten to close.

"What about you?" Gildartz asked. "You got someone to live for?"

Gajeel jerked, looking at the knowing older man blankly for a long moment. "What's that mean?" he asked.

"He's asking about your girlfriend," Lily told him, holding up a tiny pinkie in the Japanese manner. "You know, a lover."

Gajeel snorted, not even daring to glance over at where the little blue haired bookworm had fallen asleep long ago. "What's it matter?" he asked as he downed another cup.

"I figure it'd be good for you and Natsu both to have someone you need to come back to," Gildartz said. He looked at the sake in his cup, swishing the liquid to interrupt the reflection of the moon. "I couldn't finish my last job. I ran into a black dragon-"

Suddenly Gajeel was as sober as a judge. "What? Where?" he asked. "Did you get his name?"

"He got a few parts of mine, not the other way around," Gildartz said. "I probably shouldn't have told you about him. Hell, I know I shouldn't have told Natsu."

Gajeel scowled down at his drink. "Doesn't matter," he said finally, snorting. "Let the bastard go, I'm better off without him." But that didn't sound like Metalicana, anyway. Frowning he glanced over at Lily, who let out a yawn and fell onto his back, starting to snore.

"I doubt he was your parent," Gildartz said. "He wasn't any friend to humans."

Gajeel was still looking at Lily. He shrugged off his jacket, tossing it over the cat before he turned back to Gildartz. "What's this got to do with having a girlfriend?" he demanded harshly, feeling like an idiot for even bringing up the word.

"Not just a girlfriend," Gildartz said. "Anyone that you're willing to come back for. You know... someone that makes you harder to kill."

Gajeel sat there, crossed legged with his elbows resting on his knees as he contemplated the older man's thought process. "You mean," he said slowly, his mind struggling with the concept somewhat, "Someone here that would make me fight harder to come back to, or something?"

"Exactly," Gildartz said.

Gajeel looked at Lily again then allowed his eyes to go up, never hesitating before they landed on Levy. She was knocked out, using a massive book as a pillow. The moon shone over her face, revealing a tiny thread of drool that had escaped her. Gajeel couldn't help the snort that escaped him before he looked back at Gildartz.

"Maybe," he said. He looked up at the sky again, wondering if this was a way of saying he should go after the black dragon, yet not die. Did he even want to do that? Hell, if Salamander wound up fighting against it, he probably would too, as much as it disturbed him.

He stood, not bothering to excuse himself, and picked up his coat and cat, only taking a second to drop the coat over the sleeping bookworm before he headed out for his apartment. After a few steps yellow eyes opened, looking up at him seriously. "You're going, aren't you."

"Going where?"

"To deal with that dragon he was talking about."

"I thought you were sleeping." He didn't have an answer for the cat, not one he was willing to say.

"If you die," Lily said after a long moment, "I'll go be Erza's cat."

"Like hell I'll let that happen," Gajeel muttered, irritated by the very thought. "If I die, you need to die with me."

"I don't want to die," Lily said after a long moment. "I thought about it. I thought I was willing to, back on Edolas. But we've just started, partner. There's a lot of things we need to do, to see. Hell, you haven't even asked Levy out on a real date yet. That alone will probably take years," he went on.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Gajeel asked irritably.

"Don't die," Lily said. "Get stronger and don't die."

"It won't take years," Gajeel muttered after a long, pregnant pause.

"Sure it will," Lily drawled. "But we've got time," he said, still letting himself be carried. He let out a yawn, stretching slightly. "I want to see all of Earthland."

And that was how it went, Gajeel thought as he trudged along, carrying his cat. He couldn't die, even if the dragon killed him. His partner wanted to see all of Earthland, after all. And he wasn't about to let him see it with Erza.

A little smirk pulled at Lily's lips as his eyes drifted shut once again. He had lied. There was no way in hell he would ever be someone else's cat. But Gajeel didn't need to know that.

* * *

It was probably the most awkwardly happy, yet confused feeling she had ever felt, Levy thought as she stared down at the coat she had been cuddling into mere seconds before. There was no question who it belonged to. It was heavy, smelled of metal and-and him, and it had (if this wasn't the clincher, she didn't know what was) metal studs all over it.

But she wasn't supposed to be this elated about a simple coat, right? He hadn't even woken her up, or anything, and it looked like he just tossed it on top of her-but still, a little voice whispered, he had thought of her, right?

Oh, it was hard admitting that you had a crush, Levy thought. Especially when it was on someone you knew would never feel the same way. Gajeel's heart was probably as cold and hard as the metal he ate-except for Lily, and his thing for singing, and his really stupid fedora.-okay, maybe it wasn't that cold and hard. She flushed, looking around to make sure no one else was awake and aware of what she was holding. Then, unable to keep herself from it, she hugged the coat happily. It was going to be a pain in the neck getting it back to him without anyone else finding out, but she would. Sooner or later, that was.

For now, however silly she was being, she thought, she was really, really happy. She stood, using all her strength to pick the coat up. When no one woke she slipped it on, frowning as she realized that it was going to drag on the ground because of her height. Her hands were covered by the sleeves, and the shoulders were so wide that they threatened to fall off of her completely. She grinned, feeling like a little girl as she wrapped her arms around herself to keep it from falling.

"So he does have someone."

The voice made her jerk and turn, her eyes widening as she realized someone was watching her. "This is-I mean-" she stuttered, flushing slightly at Gildartz' knowing smirk. "Can you not tell anyone?" she asked.

"Not a soul," he agreed. She nodded slightly before rushing off so fast that the tail end of the coat floated behind her all the way home.


	16. Speak Gajeelese

I was all enjoying all the Gajeel/Levy love and the almost canon statehood that chapter 210 gave us, when this got stuck in my head *sighs* But I've got like a cold or a sinus problem or something, and didn't want to pass it around at church (too many old people that don't recover as fast as I do) so I sat down and jotted this out real quick. I must admit, I think I gave Gajeel more credit for intelligence than he actually has. At least I did before I wrote this. Maybe I came up with an explanation that everyone's likely to accept here!

Or maybe I was just wasting time^^ The world will never know! *insert crazy laughter here*

* * *

**Chapter 16: Speak Gajeel-ese**

**Characters: Gajeel, Lily, Levy, Charle**

He was starting to think that they might not be talking about the same things. It was just a sneaking suspicion, but that scene from earlier was firmly stuck in his head, because it had been damn confusing. She brought up caring for her, right? She was his partner, of course he cared what happened to her. But then she goes on about paying attention to her. Maybe, he thought, just maybe he shouldn't have answered the way he did. But she was comparing herself to Salamander and Erza, so of course he figured she meant-

"You're an idiot," Lily said bluntly.

He looked up at the cat irritably. The fight with the grim-something heart was over, and he and Levy had ran into his cat and the white one, both of who weren't supposed to be there. "I didn't say anything," he growled.

"Yeah, but I'm betting you did something stupid," Lily said, glancing over at the blue haired bookworm talking with Charle.

"What is with everyone calling me stupid?" Gajeel bellowed, frustrated. "She's the one that's goin' on about wantin' attention," he went on in a lower voice. "Sayin' I'm more focused on Erza and Salamander. So I told her the truth, if she wants my attention she's gonna haveta get tougher and fight-"

"Two different types of attention," Lily said before he could finish.

"Huh?"

"Which is why everyone's calling you stupid," the cat said with a sigh and a flip of his paw.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Gajeel asked, as if only just realizing that problem.

"We came here for personal reasons. I don't trust that Mest guy."

"Oh," Gajeel said. "That's that weirdo guy with the girly, right?"

"Yes. He claims to have been Mystogun's disciple, which doesn't sound right."

"Oh, then good luck with that," Gajeel said, turning his attention back to Levy. "How is that two different types of attention? I only got one type of attention!"

"Okay..." Lily said. But his mind was rushing, and he was realizing something very important. Inwardly he cursed and sighed over how simplistic his partner was. Gajeel hadn't been lying. If you wanted his attention it had to be shown through beating the shit out of each other. Why else had he fought Lily when trying to claim him as his cat? The relationship they had now wasn't about fighting, at least, not each other.

But the difference was, Lily thought as he glanced at the little bookworm, Lily had been perfectly happy to beat the shit out of the dragon slayer. It had been fun, probably the funnest thing he'd done in a while. Levy wasn't like that. She wasn't the type to beat the guy whose attention she wanted-but-

His eyes widened. "You think she could!"

"Wh-what?" Gajeel spluttered, trying to look outraged. But there was a strange look in his eyes as he automatically glanced over at Levy. "She never takes it seriously!" he complained finally.

Lily snorted, finally seeing the problem, but unable to do anything about it. "Your rules are too screwed up," he told the dragon slayer bluntly. Then again, Gajeel had done more for the little bookworm than he did for most. He was practically throwing himself at her, telling her how it worked, etc. But Levy didn't speak Gajeel-ese.

"They worked with you," Gajeel muttered, glowering at the Exceed.

"Sure they worked with me," Lily said with a shrug. "We're a lot alike. And hell, even if you were halfway playing, I was doing a job-"

"You were playing," Gajeel said with a snort.

"I was doing my job."

"You were grinning like an idiot."

"You're one to talk." They grinned at each other. Then Gajeel gave Levy a dark look, clearly pouting over the situation. "Look, she doesn't understand that you're an idiot, she probably expects you to treat her like you like her-"

"I didn't say I didn't!"

"Which means she doesn't expect to have to beat the hell out of you to get your attention." And he seriously doubted that Gajeel realized the meaning of "like" in this subject, but he was going to ignore that fact for now. "Keep going, you've got an exam to finish, right? Deal with that problem after you've made her an S-class mage."

Gajeel scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. "This exam sucks," he said after a moment. "Pick a trail, find a grave, where the hell is the fun part? I'd rather go hunt down the rest of those grim guys."

* * *

It was so, so, soooo frustrating sometimes, Levy thought as she brought her knees up to her chest, hugging her legs. The rock she was sitting on was cold and hard, but she ignored it. One moment he's telling her that she'll never get his attention, because she's too small and weak, the next he's doing something that makes her heart pound so hard that she's positive he can hear it. That "Don't leave my side" comment? It was the most romantic thing that anyone had ever said to her since the last time he had saved her life.

Even when she was positive she should hate him, she couldn't do it. It would be easier if she could hate him, right? No, she thought before even jumping on that line of thought. It wouldn't be easier if she could hate him. Hatred was worse on the person that did the hating than the one that was hated. It gnawed at your stomach and ripped at your happiness. She couldn't hate him even after what he had done to her during the guild fights, so why was she so willing to say she did now?

Maybe it was because he wasn't doing what she wanted him to do? At least, not unless her life was in danger. The moment she got into trouble he was there, saying all the right things, doing all the stuff she secretly dreamed of a guy doing for her. But the moment they were just walking around he started acting like a big mouthed jerk that only focused on other people and fighting! She wanted some of that attention, darn it! She wanted some of that passionately stupid focus for herself!

So he wasn't the brightest guy in the guild. She didn't hold that against him! The least he could do was to not hold her size and lack of strength against her!

"Why did you pick a guy like that as your partner?"

The question took a long moment to sink in. Big brown eyes blinked a few times as she looked over at the little white Exceed standing on the rock next to her. She had a dark, disapproving expression on her face as she watched Gajeel and Lily talk.

"I-I didn't really-I mean," Levy said, trying to think of how to put it.

"You're the one that was put in the competition, you're the one that was supposed to pick the partner, right?"

"Yeah, but-" Levy looked over at Gajeel for a moment. "I didn't want, um... to lose because..." Oh she felt soooo guilty even thinking it, although she had thought it often before. Saying it aloud was even worse. "I like team Shadow Gear, but-"

"So you picked him because he could help you win," Charle summed up. "I guess that makes sense. Sure you've got to put up with him while you're at it, but it'd probably be worth it-"

"That's not true!" Levy said. "I thought Gajeel had turned into a-a sort of nice guy since joining Fairy Tail!"

"Excuses, excuses," Charle said, waving it off rudely. "He's tougher than your friends, and he offered, so you took him up on it. Nobody would blame you!"

"I would have never picked a partner because of that alone! I trust Gajeel! He's saved my life lots of times!"

"So not only is he good for brute strength, he makes a good shield to hide behind, too," Charle summed up.

"That's not it!" Levy protested. "I wanted to spend time with him!" Then she jerked, flushing brightly as she slapped her hand over her mouth. She had said that way too loudly. But something in her made her keep going. "I wanted to get to know him so I could tell everyone that-that he's not a bad guy, now. I don't want to fear him, and I really, really, really don't want to hate him. And I don't want other people in the guild to hate him, either," she said quietly.

The look of surprise on Charle's face made Levy sigh. "You weren't there for the battle with Phantom," she said. "But Gajeel was on the other side. And he did some things that made a lot of people in our guild hate him. But he's not bad. He's-he always does exactly what he wants to, says exactly what he's thinking, he's-"

"Stupid," Charle finished.

"No! Well, kind of, but not in a bad way," Levy said, flushing. "He's so strong and straightforward. I wish-I just want some of that... for myself." Oh was that an open ended statement, she admitted silently. This was so hard, darn it! And Charle's look of confusion didn't make it any easier, she thought. "But he's so focused on fighting that he never even notices me!" she complained. "Stupid Gajeel."

"Then fight him," Charle said.

"Wh-what?" Levy asked, shocked. "He'd beat me in a second!"

"Sure, in a fist fight. But there's more than one way for a mage to fight, right? I think you could take him!" The white cat glanced up as the males started to stand. "I need to go find Wendy. You can figure this out on your own," she told Levy before heading for Lily.

Levy was still so stunned by the idea of fighting Gajeel in a different way that she could only nod as the white Exceed walked away.


End file.
